It is no news that Michael Jordan had an impressive career. Be it racking up championships, dominating the league, or gathering individual accolades, MJ achieved everything.
Thanks to his impressive resume, Jordan is regarded as the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT). Moreover, his playing style was truly amazing. He was good on both the offensive and the defensive end of the court. The only thing that the great Michael Jordan never truly polished in his skill set was his three-point shooting.
It is quite understandable since, during his playing days, the league as a whole didn’t rely on 3-pointers as much as they do currently. Nowadays, it doesn’t matter whether you are a point guard or a center, having a decent three-point shot always helps you in adding more value to the team. In case of Jordan, he achieved everything without ever truly mastering long-range shots.
But in the 1989-90 season, it felt like Mike paid some focus to that aspect of the game. Before the NBA All-Star weekend, the Chicago Bulls legend was shooting 39% from beyond the three-point line. As a result, he decided to try his luck in the 3-point shooting contest.
Previously, Jordan had bagged two Slam Dunk championships and fans loved seeing him perform at the All-Star weekend. So, without a doubt, they were excited about the inclusion of Jordan in the 3-point contest along with Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Craig Ehlo, Bobby Hansen, Mark Price, Jon Sunvold, and Craig Hodges.
While fans had huge hopes for Jordan, it was a rare time when he failed to meet those expectations, and that too in a disastrous way. Jordan scored just five points out of 30 possible. It was weird to see him struggle so badly as he missed shot after shot and unwantedly got a record to his name.
Mike’s five-point performance in the competition remains the worst outing in any 3-point contest to this date! He had a shooting percentage of just 16.67%. According to HoopsHype, the closest player to MJ in this regard is Vladimir Radmanovic, who went 6 for 30 in 2005 and recorded a 20.0% in that year’s 3-point contest.
This was the first and last time that fans would ever see Jordan gearing up to take part in the contest and it is quite understandable. Over the years, he did improve his three-point shooting a little, but he still never became a true 3-point shooter.
But considering how the league adapted three-point shooting in the modern era, if a similar situation developed during MJ’s playing days, he might have further improved that skill as well.
After all, if centers can learn how to shoot consistently from beyond the arc, there is no reason to believe that arguably the most competitive player in NBA history won’t be able to adapt his game to this.
Apart from Jordan, you can check out the other embarrassing performances in the 3-point contest here:
