Watch: Michael Jordan announces second retirement from NBA, on this day 23 years ago
On this day in 1999, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan retired for the second time ahead of the 1999-2000 season.
@HowsitoOTD (99) Michael Jordan retired for a second time and said he was 99.9 percent sure he would not return.
The announcement was 7 months after winning his last championship & days after the NBA agreed to end the lockout.
📼 @Howsito https://t.co/Y27Lr2PPo6
It was Jan. 13, 1999, when Jordan announced his retirement for the second time, a couple of months after winning his sixth and final championship for Chicago.
With coach Phil Jackson's contract expiring as well as Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen departing from the Bulls, MJ felt his time in the NBA had come to an end and wanted to leave on the high of winning a championship. He was so sure of retiring he even said he was "99.9% certain" he would never play in the league again.
However, Jordan returned to competitive basketball by suiting up for the Washington Wizards ahead of the 2001-2002 season, shocking the world with that announcement. With an ownership stake in the organization, MJ hired his former Bulls coach Doug Collins to coach the Wizards. Jordan played two seasons in Washington before retiring for good.
Michael Jordan's final season with the Chicago Bulls
Michael Jordan's final season with the Chicago Bulls was a thing straight out of the movies as "His Airness," along with Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Toni Kukoč, captured yet another championship to three-peat with Phil Jackson at the helm.
In pursuit of his second career three-peat, MJ played like a man possessed, averaging 28.7 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting better than 46% from the field and over 78% from the free-throw line (career-low). Even more impressive was that Jordan played all 82 games – for the third straight season –and nearly 39 minutes a night at age 34.
Michael Jordan capped the 97-98 season with his 6th NBA Finals MVP Award. No other player has won Finals MVP more than 3x (first awarded in 1969).
Jordan was 6-0 in NBA Finals, the most title round wins without a loss by an MVP in NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB history. h/t @EliasSports https://t.co/ZlVT433TSN
With championship aspirations after winning the previous two years, Chicago faced the New Jersey Nets (Brooklyn Nets) in the first round of the playoffs. "His Airness" dropped over 30 points in all three games as the Bulls swept the Nets.
In the second round, the Bulls played the Charlotte Hornets (a franchise MJ would later own). MJ averaged 29.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting better than 46% in this series. The Bulls needed five games to get past the Hornets.
In the Eastern Conference finals, the Indiana Pacers were waiting for Chicago. Considered to be the toughest matchup of MJ's career barring the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s, the Pacers pushed the Bulls to all seven games. MJ averaged nearly 32 points on over 46% shooting from the field and 40% from 3-point range in this series.
Against the Utah Jazz, led by Karl Malone and John Stockton, Jordan kept his unblemished record of never going the distance in an NBA Finals as the Bulls won the series in six games. Jordan averaged 33.5 points per game on better than 42% shooting. That performance led the Bulls to their sixth championship.