Michael Jordan stunned the basketball world in October 1993 when he retired at the peak of his powers. While Jordan has cited his father, James Jordan, being murdered in July 1993, as the biggest reason behind his retirement, some conspiracy theories suggest that’s not the case.
The most notable one, of course, is that the NBA had slapped Jordan with a gambling suspension. It is a theory that he has refuted, but it still hasn’t gone away all these years later.
So, when Jordan’s former Chicago Bulls teammate Horace Grant appeared on the All The Smoke podcast, he was asked if the players had heard anything back then about gambling being the reason for the retirement.
“People don’t know, in terms of he lost his dad,” Grant said. “The trauma that a guy like that, have no privacy, losing his dad, and the wear and tear on you mentally, can take a toll on you. He just wanted to get away, I think, and pursue baseball. We never heard gambling and all of that s*** because in our mind, we had something to prove to ourselves, and the fans, and the city of Chicago. That we had a legitimate chance to win without MJ.”
Jordan, who had also claimed he was burned out, would then sign with the Chicago White Sox in 1994. He revealed his motivation to play baseball came from his father’s dream to see him in the MLB. Jordan was honoring him by going down this route. He wouldn’t be away from basketball for too long, though, as he announced his return in March 1995.
The fact that Jordan was embroiled in a gambling controversy before his retirement and then returned 18 months later has led conspiracy theorists to believe there is more to this story. He had, of course, infamously gone to an Atlantic City casino between Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Bulls and the New York Knicks in 1993.
Former NBA commissioner David Stern has firmly denied suspending Jordan, though.
“The urban legend that I sent him away because he was gambling – ridiculous,” Stern said on The Last Dance, via Rachel Nichols. “No basis in fact, whatsoever. It’s just not true. Never was, never will be – no matter how many times I’m asked the question.”
There was also the theory that Jordan’s father was murdered because of his son’s unpaid gambling debt. That has been disproven, too, as it was a robbery that turned into murder. It’s a shame that despite all this, these gambling theories haven’t gone away.
As for basketball, Jordan would continue his domination over the NBA once he returned. He had led the Chicago Bulls to a three-peat from 1991 to 1993 and did it again from 1996 to 1998. He then retired for the second time in 1998.
You’d have thought that was that, but Jordan came out of retirement again in 2001. This comeback was with the Washington Wizards and lasted just two seasons. The Wizards failed to make the playoffs both times, and Jordan retired for the third and final time in 2003.
Jordan has expressed regret over playing for the Wizards, and that was certainly a bad decision. It was a completely forgettable chapter, and his story should have finished in 1998.
