Michael Jordan

**Michael Jeffrey Jordan** (born February 17, 1963) is a former American basketball player. He is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He won six championships and was the Finals MVP 6 times. He played for the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards. Jordan led the Bulls to a then-record 72-10 wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan earned the nicknames "**Jordan**" and "**His Airness**" due to his leaping ability, which was illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests. Jordan won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA, famously playing on the 1992 Dream Team. During the early part of his college career, he went by **Mike Jordan**, and he still uses **Mike** as a nickname to this year. Jordan is a billionaire, his net worth is estimated at $3 billion as of 2024. He is also the founder of Air Jordan shoe brand.

## Family and early years

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York, he is the son of Deloris (née Peoples), who worked in banking, and James R. Jordan, Sr., an equipment supervisor. His family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina when he was a toddler. Jordan developed a competitive edge at an early age. He wanted to win every game he played.

Jordan is the fourth of five children. He has two older brothers, Larry Jordan and James R. Jordan, Jr., one older sister, Deloris, and a younger sister, Roslyn. Jordan's brother James retired in 2006 as the Command Sergeant Major of the 35th Signal Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the U.S. Army.

## Early career

As a sophomore at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, Jordan did not make his school's varsity (main) basketball team. This inspired him to work harder, and he made the team the next year. In 1981, he went to the University of North Carolina to play. He averaged 10 points per game his freshman year, and 20 points per game his sophomore year. Under coach Dean Smith's system, no player was allowed to average more than 20 ppg.  North Carolina won the national championship in 1982, Jordan's freshman year. Jordan made the winning shot with 18 seconds left in the championship game. After Jordan's junior year in college, he said that he would be leaving college to play in the NBA. The Chicago Bulls chose him with the third pick in the 1984 NBA draft.  He never served as a team captain in college.

## NBA career

In 1993, after winning three NBA championships in a row, Jordan said that he would retire and switch to a career in minor league baseball. He played for the Birmingham Barons, a minor league team in the Chicago White Sox's system, but hit only one home run during his whole baseball career. In 1995, Jordan announced that he would return to the NBA with a two word announcement: "I'm back". He was back in time to play for the Bulls in the 1995 playoffs, but the Bulls lost in the playoffs before reaching the NBA Finals. However, the next three seasons after that, the Bulls won the championship. This included the 1995-1996 season, when the Bulls won 72 games in the regular season and only lost 10. In 1996, he starred in the live-action/animated comedy movie _Space Jam_ as himself. Jordan retired for a second time in 1998, but was still not done playing. He would buy part of the Washington Wizards basketball team, and played for the Wizards from 2001 to 2003, and ended his playing career after that.

### Game-winning shots

During his NBA career, Jordan had at least 29 game-winning shots on field goals or free throws when deciding a game in the last 30 seconds of the game.  In addition to well-documented instances, he made a pair of free throws in a road game at New Jersey, on March 16, 1996.  While making the free throws, WGN play-by-play announcer Wayne Larivee remarked, "Michael Jordan, ice water in his veins".

## Player Profile

Michael Jordan played mostly shooting guard.  Other than a brief spell in April 1989 during which he played point guard, Jordan almost always played shooting guard during his time with the Chicago Bulls.  He was widely heralded as the most skilled and accomplished basketball player of all time.

## After retiring

Jordan is now the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. He was chosen to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. He also serves as a special contributor for the NBA on NBC.

## References

**Notes**

## Other websites

- Michael Jordan's NBA profile

## Infobox (basketball biography)

- **name**: Michael Jordan
- **image**: Michael Jordan in 2014.jpg
- **caption**: Jordan in 2014
- **team**: Charlotte Hornets
- **league**: National Basketball Association, NBA
- **position**: Owner
- **height ft**: 6
- **height in**: 7
- **weight lbs**: 216
- **nationality**: American
- **birth place**: New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S.
- **high school**: Emsley A. Laney High School, Emsley A. Laney
(Wilmington, North Carolina)
- **college**: North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, North Carolina (1981–1984)
- **draftyear**: 1984
- **draftround**: 1
- **draftpick**: 3
- **draftteam**: Chicago Bulls
- **career start**: 1984–1993, 1995–1998, 2001
- **career end**: 2003
- **career position**: Shooting guard
- **career number**: 23, 12, 45
- **years1**: –,
–
- **team1**: Chicago Bulls
- **years2**: –
- **team2**: Washington Wizards
- **highlights**: * 6× List of NBA champions, NBA champion (–, –)
* 6× Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, NBA Finals MVP (–, –)
* 5× NBA Most Valuable Player Award, NBA Most Valuable Player (, , , , )
* 14× List of NBA All-Stars, NBA All-Star (–, –, , )
* 3× NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, NBA All-Star Game MVP (, , )
* 10× All-NBA Team, All-NBA First Team (–, –)
* All-NBA Team, All-NBA Second Team ()
* NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, NBA Defensive Player of the Year ()
* 9× NBA All-Defensive Team, NBA All-Defensive First Team (–, –)
* NBA Rookie of the Year Award, NBA Rookie of the Year ()
* NBA All-Rookie Team ()
* 10× List of National Basketball Association annual scoring leaders, NBA scoring champion (–, –)
* 3× List of National Basketball Association annual steals leaders, NBA steals leader (, , )
* 2× Slam Dunk Contest, NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion (, )
* No. 23 Chicago Bulls#Retired numbers and honorees, retired by Chicago Bulls
* No. 23 Miami Heat#Retired numbers, retired by Miami Heat
* 3× Associated Press Athlete of the Year, AP Athlete of the Year (–)
* Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year, _Sports Illustrated_ Sportsperson of the Year (1991)
* NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
* List of NCAA Division I men's basketball champions, NCAA champion (1982 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, 1982)
* Consensus List of U.S. men's college basketball national player of the year awards, national college player of the year (1984)
* 2× Consensus first-team NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans, All-American (1983 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans, 1983, 1984 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans, 1984)
* Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year (1984)
* 2× First-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC (1983, 1984)
* Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year (1982)
* No. 23 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball#Retired numbers, retired by North Carolina Tar Heels
* 2× USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (1983, 1984)
* Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016)
- **stats league**: NBA
- **stat1label**: Point (basketball), Points
- **stat1value**: 32,292 (30.1 ppg)
- **stat2label**: Rebound (basketball), Rebounds
- **stat2value**: 6,672 (6.2 rpg)
- **stat3label**: Assist (basketball), Assists
- **stat3value**: 5,633 (5.3 apg)
- **bbr**: jordami01
- **hof player**: michael-jordan
- **fiba hof player**: Michael-JORDAN
- **weight lb**: 220
- **number**: 23
- **draft year**: 1984
- **draft round**: 1st
- **draft pick**: 3rd
- **draft team**: Chicago bulls