Michael Jordan has so many career highlights that fans have a hard time picking what his greatest accomplishment is. Whether it be his 2 three-peats between 1991 and 1998, or his multiple scoring titles, or even his 5 MVPs, there is no right answer for what MJ’s greatest accomplishment in the NBA is.
Some would consider his first three-peat, given that he won 3 NBA championships with Scottie Pippen as his only All-Star teammate. Or the fact that Jordan outscored 268 out of 269 opponents in playoff series his entire career.
But perhaps one of the accomplishments that rank very high in his list is his 1997-98 season. Known to many fans as ‘The Last Dance’, thanks to the popular docuseries of the same name, the 97-98 season was a very tough one for Jordan and the Bulls.
Coming into the season, there were major doubts about the Bulls. GM Jerry Krause and head coach Phil Jackson were at odds, and Krause wanted to replace Jackson in order to begin the Bulls’ rebuild. But several of the Bulls’ superstars said they would leave if Jackson was let go, including MJ, who threatened to go back into retirement.
Eventually, Jackson was kept for the 97-98 season, but Krause promised to let him go at the end of the year. Jordan maintained his position, noting that he would retire if Jackson left the team at the end of the season.
On the other side, Scottie Pippen was at odds with the front office over a new contract. Pippen had signed a low-paying long-term deal with the Bulls and wanted to renegotiate terms.
When the front office said they would not do so, Pippen took matters into his own hands, getting surgery on a nagging injury that kept him out indefinitely.
Pippen then refused to come back to the team after recovering and demanded a trade away from the Bulls. On the court, the Bulls were struggling, as MJ had lost his partner in crime. He relied heavily on Dennis Rodman, who stepped up in Scottie’s absence.
Jordan was 35 at the time, but still an incredible player. But he couldn’t do everything by himself. He and Rodman were able to turn things around, just as Scottie Pippen decided to return to the Bulls after missing 38 games, almost half the season.
Despite Scottie not playing for almost half of the season, MJ was able to lead the Bulls to a 62-20 record. Playing with an aging Bulls squad, which was the oldest in league history, and being able to achieve that record is absolutely astonishing.
The Bulls then went into the playoffs, defeating the New Jersey Nets and Charlotte Hornets before facing the dangerous Reggie Miller and Indiana Pacers in the conference finals. The Pacers pushed the Bulls to their limit, but Jordan ended up vanquishing them in 7 games.
Chicago Bulls had to face Karl Malone, John Stockton, and the Utah Jazz in a rematch of the previous year’s Finals. Jordan and the Bulls won the series after Jordan hit an incredible final shot to seal victory for Chicago in Game 6.
That season turned out to be the last hurrah for the Bulls dynasty, as the Krause kept his promise and fired Jackson, effectively going into a rebuild. The Bulls cleared their roster, and Jordan went back into retirement. Since then, many of his teammates have spoken about what they think of Michael Jordan, and how helped their careers.
While Jordan had individual seasons where he performed better, the work he did during the 1997-98 NBA season might just be the most impressive feat of his career, based on the context surrounding him.
