Even now, years after stepping away from the game, Michael Jordan hasn’t let go of basketball. He admitted it himself in an interview with Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning.
“100%. It’s not just a tiny bit, it’s a huge piece. I’ve compensated that feeling through NASCAR or through Fishing. That urge to dream that I wish I could still pickup a basketball, I would love to do that. Believe me. My competitive juices, yeah I would definitely love to do that.”
That statement says everything because this isn’t nostalgia. This isn’t someone casually missing the game, this is someone who still feels it. The same competitive drive that defined his career hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s still there, even at 63, even after decades away from playing.
Jordan explained how he tries to fill that gap. NASCAR, Competitive Fishing, gambling, and other ventures. Different outlets, different environments, but all tied to competition in some way. Still, none of it fully replaces basketball. But in reality, nothing does.
This is the same player who returned to the league at 39, not because he had to, but because the competitive urge never left. The same player who would challenge young players at his camps, pushing them, testing them, and sometimes dominating them just to prove a point.
Even during his time as owner of the Charlotte Hornets, there were stories of him stepping into practice runs and showing flashes of that old edge when someone crossed a line.
The competitive fire has never faded. What has changed is his body, and Jordan knows it. At a certain point, the mind can still compete, but the body doesn’t respond the same way. The explosiveness, the recovery, the wear and tear, all of it adds up. If there were a way to take that away, to reset physically without losing everything that made him who he was, you get the sense he’d be back without hesitation.
In that same interview, Jordan pushed back on the GOAT debate, saying he doesn’t believe in the idea of one player standing above all others. He also spoke about his legal battle with NASCAR, a fight he approached with the same mindset he had on the court: determined, focused, unwilling to lose.
That case ended in a settlement, another example of how his competitive nature extends beyond basketball.
Even his post-playing career reflects that connection. He stayed tied to the league for years, owning the Hornets until 2023 before selling the franchise for over $3 billion. More recently, he’s stepped back into the spotlight as a special contributor with NBC, offering insight and perspective on the game he helped shape.
So while he’s not on the court anymore, he hasn’t stepped away from the game completely. But he hasn’t moved on from it either.
