Michael Jordan is clearly one of the greatest players of all-time. But like with every other legendary superstar, he didn’t start off that way. Michael Jordan wouldn’t win a championship until a few years into his career, but once he did, the rest was history.
Magic Johnson has recently spoken about the exact time he knew that the Jordan days began. Magic Johnson detailed his encounter with Michael Jordan in the 1991 NBA Finals on Bakari Sellers’ podcast, and how he knew it was the dawn of a new era.
.@MagicJohnson tells @Bakari_Sellers about the moment he knew the "Jordan Era" began: https://t.co/x1lJK0o8Jn pic.twitter.com/22eWowuQl7
— The Ringer (@ringer) March 26, 2021
Well, you know, it was easy to see when it hit.
When we played them in ’91 for the NBA Finals, he came up on the right side, coming down, Bakari. And he took off with the tongue out. We all jumped. We thought we had him. And in mid-air, he switched it to the left hand. Oh, Man! We said, ‘you know what, passing of the torch.’ And they beat us 4-1 in that series.
And when I went in after the game, after they beat us, I told him, it’s your turn now, it’s your time now. And sure enough, won three straight. Took off for baseball. Came back. Now, who else in the world could take a couple of years off, come back and win three more championships?
Magic Johnson definitely knew that it was game over those Finals. Michael Jordan was a phenomenal player, and there is a reason that he has 2 three-peats. The Jordan era is probably the greatest era of basketball. Even at the beginning it was clear that it was only a matter of time before Jordan started dominating even more.
