Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials, MJ, is an American retired professional basketball player, businessman, and principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets. Jordan played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. His biography on the NBA website states: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.” Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
Jordan played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels’ national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames Air Jordan and His Airness. He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a “three-peat”. Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a new venture in minor league baseball, he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in January 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wizards.
Jordan’s individual accolades and accomplishments include five Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP Awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP Awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Among his numerous accomplishments, Jordan holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press’s list of athletes of the century. Jordan is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, having been enshrined in 2009 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as part of the group induction of the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team (“The Dream Team”). He became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015.
Jordan is also known for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today. Jordan also starred in the 1996 feature film Space Jam as himself. In 2006, he became part-owner and head of basketball operations for the then-Charlotte Bobcats, buying a controlling interest in 2010. In 2015, Jordan became the first billionaire NBA player in history as a result of the increase in value of NBA franchises. He is the third-richest African-American, behind Oprah Winfrey and Robert F. Smith.
Summary
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Jordan in 2014
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| Charlotte Hornets | |
|---|---|
| Position | Owner |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | February 17, 1963 Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Listed weight | 216 lb (98 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Emsley A. Laney (Wilmington, North Carolina) |
| College | North Carolina (1981–1984) |
| NBA draft | 1984 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3rd overall |
| Selected by the Chicago Bulls | |
| Playing career | 1984–1993, 1995–1998, 2001–2003 |
| Position | Shooting guard |
| Number | 23, 45, 12[a] |
| Career history | |
| 1984–1993, 1995–1998 |
Chicago Bulls |
| 2001–2003 | Washington Wizards |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Earlier this year, Michael Jordan joined one of the world’s most exclusive clubs. No, not People Magazine’s Best Dressed List (just visit this Tumblr blog to see evidence that MJ shouldn’t be allowed to pick his own clothes).
Thanks to the skyrocketing value of NBA franchises over the last few years, MJ’s 90 percent ownership stake in the Charlotte Hornets earned him a spot on Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires back in 2015. That’s right: MJ is a part of that illustrious honor roll-slash-rogues gallery that also includes the President, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, various members of the Walton family, Oprah, Elon Musk, the Koch brothers and other achievers, inheritors, miscreants and scoundrels. With an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, Jordan checks in at No. 1,477 on Forbes 2018 list of the world’s billionaires, and to give you an idea of the worldwide wealth explosion, that ranks him as only the world’s 18th-richest person named Michael, behind Bloomberg, Dell and 15 others.
Still $1.6 billion is nothing to sneeze at and could buy MJ an awful lot of ill-fitting acid-washed jeans.
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