When it comes to excellence in basketball, Michael Jordan is widely seen like the gold standard. The legendary shooter NBA career is defined by a almost unparalleled dominance which saw him win six championships in eight years with the 
Chicago Bulls.
Michael’s combination of scoring brilliance, defensive intensity and killer instinct made him the ultimate competitor throughout his 15-year career. And this approach attracted millions of new viewers throughout the 1990s, while inspiring generations of new gamers.
Whether it’s the “Flu Game,” “The Shot” against Craig Ehlo or his championship-winning final jump against Bryon Russell, Jordan is the centerpiece of some of the The Most Iconic NBA Moments.
|
Michael Jordan NBA Career Stats |
|
|---|---|
|
Category |
Michael Jordan |
|
Points per game |
30.1 |
|
Assists per match |
5.3 |
|
Rebounds per game |
6.2 |
|
Steals per game |
2.3 |
|
Blocks per game |
0.8 |
|
Career Awards |
5x NBA MVP, 6x NBA Finals MVP, 14x All-Star, 10x All-NBA First Team, 1x All-NBA Second Team |
|
NBA titles |
6 |
Because of the image that MJ always gives to the basketball landscape, every time the five-time MVP decides to speak out on an issue, millions of people listen.
In his new role within the league, Jordan just delivered a scathing critique of the modern NBA’s biggest problem.
Michael Jordan Isn’t Happy With A Trend He’s Seeing In The Modern NBA
Michael Jordan has officially joined NBC Sports as a special contributor for NBA coverage this season, marking his first official broadcast role since his retirement in 2003.
MJ has appeared primarily in taped segments and special features, and in a recent interview with Mike Tirico, the first-ballot Hall of Famer shared his views on the problems of the modern NBA.
Jordan called publicly load management and the way players opt for rest are at odds with the basketball culture he grew up in in the ’80s and ’90s.
“Well, it shouldn’t be necessary, first of all. You know, I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove it. It was something that I felt like the fans were there and watching me play. I want to impress this guy at the top who probably worked hard to get a ticket or to get the money to buy the ticket. Yeah, because I know he’s probably yelling at me and I want to shut him up,” Jordan said. You know, he calls me all kinds of names. I really want to shut him up. … You have a duty that if they want to see you, and as an artist, I want to show them. RIGHT? I was going to find a way out of this, even if I was a decoy.”
The concept of load management in the NBA gained ground in the early 2010s, when 
San Antonio Spursbelow Gregg Popovitchveterans like Tim Duncan began to rest, Manu Ginobiliand Tony Parker to keep them fresh for the playoffs.
Other franchises eventually followed suit by starting to track player fatigue, recovery and performance data more closely, leading to more structured rest plans.
Since then, the NBA has intervened to regulate this practice which has become controversial. Fans, of course, were disappointed to pay full ticket price for games and see stars sit out when they were healthy.
Therefore, in 2017, the league implemented policies allowing fines for resting healthy players during nationally televised games, and in 2023, it introduced the Player Participation Policy.
This policy requires star players to play in most games unless they are injured, limits the number of stars who can rest in the same game, and requires teams to provide transparent medical justifications for their absences.
There is also a rule that players must appear in at least 65 regular season games to be eligible for major end-of-season awards, such as regular season MVP and All-NBA teams.
These measures are working, but star players are still missing far more games than in the 1990s. Michael Jordan comes from an era where athletes often played with physical problems, regardless of the long-term consequences.
We’ll probably never return to the basketball culture of the past, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of ways to improve the NBA product. Especially the officiants.
