“You never see Julius Erving and that’s what I want to do”: When Michael Jordan openly admitted to wanting to drop out of the limelight

Michael Jordan once used Julius Erving’s low-profile as an example on how he’d want to eventually move away from the limelight.

Michael Jordan used his ‘Last Dance’ docuseries as a way to let fans in on the trials and tribulations of having the amount of stardom that he had garnered over the decades. “Try being me for a day,” was something MJ uttered in an advertisement once and truth be told, being someone with 0 privacy would be more than just a hassle.

Everything from signing autographs at the arena before and after games, getting escorted out with maximum security, getting swarmed at hotel rooms, and repeating all of this every single day would be troublesome for anybody.

It was revealed by Magic Johnson that well before the untimely passing of his father, Michael Jordan had contemplated leaving the game of basketball altogether. These talks were taking place during their summer together in Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics.

Sure enough, that same year, Michael opened up even further about his future in the NBA during an interview with Playboy in 1992.

Also read: “It wouldn’t have been very wise of Michael Jordan to come into the paint”: When Wilt Chamberlain claimed that the Bulls GOAT wouldn’t have been impactful in the paint during his era

Michael Jordan on wanting to lay low.

In that ‘92 Playboy interview, Michael Jordan was asked, “Are you looking at other players to see how they handled the transition from the NBA back to the private life?” In response, MJ said:

“Julius Erving is doing exactly what I want to do. Do you ever see or hear from Julius? But I know Julius is doing something he wants to do, and he’s kind of taken a step back from public life. That’s exactly what I want to do. When his time was up and he walked away from the game, he walked away proud, respected. Exactly what I want to do.”

Julius Erving retired after fulfilling his promise to bring the city of Philadelphia an NBA championship. This was where Michael Jordan was at as he had brought Chi-Town two straight titles and were primed for a 3rd.

In this same interview, he went on to reveal that he had 4 more years left in him, meaning he was planning on retiring in 1996 or so. Of course, this didn’t happen and he instead retired in ‘93, came back in ‘95 and won three more titles, retired again only to join the Wizards for two lackluster seasons.

Also read: “Michael Jordan scored 12 points then didn’t talk to reporters”: Bulls legend had one of the worst games of his career against Raptors but still won