Jordan wasn't as outspoken about social justice as current NBA stars, but his covert advocacy is a big reason why they are now in the spotlight.
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By Mehran Mazari
Etan Thomas was astounded by the large audience gathered surrounding the hotel when he first traveled for his NBA team, the Washington Wizards, in the fall of 2001.
Is this how the NBA operates, he questioned veteran forward Christian Laettner.
Lautner chuckled. "No, young fella," he responded. This is not for us. In support of M.J.
With Michael Jordan, who had rejoined the league after a three-season sabbatical following his last dance with the Chicago Bulls, Thomas went on a two-year tour. This was lesson number one. The flood of lights, cameras, and commotion followed him.
What about activism? Thomas, a young man full of curiosity, couldn't help but wonder. Why wasn't Jordan using his spotlight more effectively?
Twenty years after his time with the person on whose shoulders the sport rapidly increased in popularity around the world, Thomas noted in a recent interview, "I was thinking that Michael didn't lend his voice to causes where he could have helped."
On April 16, 2003, Jordan played his last NBA game, losing to Philadelphia by 20 points while recording 15 points. Jordan averaged a modest (for him) 20 points a game that season despite turning 40 in February and dealing with a knee that Thomas recalled could swell like a grapefruit. He participated in all 82 games, averaging 37 minutes per game, leaving a legacy that should be an example to today's load-managed NBA elite, if not humiliate them.
Six-time champion Jordan retired, yet many people still maintain that there has never been a better player. The popularity of "The Last Dance," a 10-part E SPN series on Jordan's Bulls that aired in 2020, and the recently released feature film "Air," starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Viola Davis, have only served to strengthen this conviction.
The criticism Jordan received for not appearing to use his huge popularity and platform as a top Black athlete for the advancement of social or political change was the opposite side of Jordan's mania. Republicans buy shoes, too, is arguably the most famous quote attributed to him, and it justifies his refusal to support Harvey Gantt, an African American Democrat running for the North Carolina Senate in 1990 against Jesse Helms, a white conservative with a history of racial policies.
On a larger scale, it mirrored the perception of Jordan that persisted into the twenty-first century: that he was a staunch capitalist without a social conscience. Sam Smith, the author of the 1995 book in which the statement first appeared, has frequently described it as an impromptu comment made in passing that was more or less a joke and expressed regret for putting it. Jordan claimed in the ESPN series that the remark was made "in jest."
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Jordan's generosity and sporadic appeals for racial justice have gained increased visibility in the recent turbulent and divisive years. In addition, with two decades to reflect on the precedents he established, the boardrooms he stormed, and his rise from transcendent player to the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets, enough time has passed to raise the question of whether he actually blazed a different or perhaps more significant path to significant societal change.
After a nine-season NBA career, Thomas became an activist, author, and media personality. He claimed that before Jordan's final retirement, he began to reexamine the 1990s Jordan myth.
He described being with Jordan and a member of his entourage in the Wizards' training room one day when Jordan inquired about a book he had seen Thomas reading. Thomas remembered that it was probably "Soul on Ice" by Eldridge Cleaver.
That sparked a discussion, and Michael's man began relating the charitable deeds he performed in secret, according to Thomas. He talked of a golf outing at an all-white club where Michael was obviously allowed to play but there were no Black members, and how Michael threatened to cancel at the last minute if they didn't change their policy.
"I told Michael, 'That's something people should know and maybe they wouldn't be saying the things they do about you,'" Thomas continued. He only stated, "I don't do that. " Then he said, "See what I mean?" After that, I was never able to use him as the poster child for the activist athlete, the opposite of Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali. It is not that easy.
In "Air," Davis, who portrays Deloris Jordan to great effect, foresees tremendous change that will help African American families of modest means after she had secured a ground-breaking agreement with Nike upon Jordan's debut into the N.B.A. in 1984.
Who can contest that Jordan's decision to distribute business profits to athletes was not a complete rewrite of the script—if not a screenwriter's extravagant license? Or that he isn't the father of the name, image, and likeness earnings that go into college athletes' pockets today because of the Nike deal, which guaranteed him a share of every pair of trainers sold?
For these reasons, Jordan shouldn't be criticized for his sole focus on commercial brand-building throughout the 1980s and '90s, according to Harry Edwards, a sociologist and human rights activist, who said as much on the "Bakari Sellers Podcast" in February 2021.
He referred to it as "an era where the foundations of power were laid," enabling Jordan's super-rich offspring to have an impact on society, as shown, for instance, in LeBron James' steadfast support of public education in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
Len Elmore, a former N.B.A. center who left the league in 1984 to enroll in Harvard Law School, recalled being perplexed by Jordan's reticence to speak out on equality problems, along with others who revered Muhammad Ali and other 1960s revolutionary idols. These problems included the sweatshop circumstances in other countries where Jordan's branded trainers were made to be sold for high prices.
Michael's years lacked the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, according to Elmore, a senior lecturer at Columbia University's sports management program. "Race was smoldering more than on fire, but it wasn't.
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I'm not defending Michael for not taking a position, he continued. However, how his legacy is reinterpreted will depend on what you saw then and what you see now.
Although Thomas wasn't in the league when Jordan was at the height of his playing and marketing career, his perspective on that time period is based on interviews he has conducted for his books and podcast "The Rematch." He discovered that those years were guided by a single strategic objective: NBA Commissioner David Stern's obsession with marketing.
In those days, Thomas added, "He was absolutely clear — everything was about growing the game, the bottom line." "He was adamantly opposed to anything that may alienate the fan base. Even when I entered and spoke out against the war, David cautioned me, "Be careful.
Stern, who passed away in 2020, walked a tightrope between his largely progressive ideals and his concern about offending customers. In incidents like the one involving Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who in 1996 was suspended by the league for refusing to stand for the national anthem due to religious beliefs, Jordan followed behind as a professional but circumspect spokesperson.
Was this strategy a reflection of a man who was naturally risk-averse? Did Jordan experience the vision that his mother was said to have in this year's movie? Was he unaware that he may have had enough notoriety and influence to speak out for social causes while yet remaining a powerful salesperson?
With the apparent backing of Stern's successor, Adam Silver, James, and other more outspoken contemporary stars have followed that strategy and "changed the narrative," as Thomas put it.
Jordan probably couldn't have accomplished what he achieved in his day while also serving as a crusader, according to Sonny Vaccaro, who was instrumental in securing Jordan for Nike.
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The character of Vaccaro, who is played by Damon in "Air," stated, "The league had to grow first." "Look, Michael had his issues—with the Republicans quote, with gambling, and with some of his teammates. But he let the door open. He altered the course of history, but it wasn't until the following century that anyone realized just how much.
LeBron can only be who he is today because Michael made it acceptable for businesses to spend enormous sums of money on athletes, especially Black athletes, he said. Their influence and voice have expanded throughout time.
Some would even say that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the players, for better or worse. Given the astonishing sums that franchise stakeholders have been receiving in recent sales, it is not — or shouldn't be — about how much celebrities make. (Jordan won't likely be an exception if he manages to close the deal he's apparently been negotiating to withdraw the $275 million he put into buying his franchise in 2010).
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However, the Jordan-inspired superstar leverage has ushered in a period of constant and frantic team switching that, to older fans and some members of the news media, looks at odds with the cherished Jordan era. Jordan worked with the players given to him, ruthlessly pushed them to achieve, and finally enjoyed the results despite his hatred for Jerry Krause, the Bulls' general manager during their championship years.
Jordan's process, according to his longtime agent David Falk, was purer to emphasize that point.
Jordan started his own controversies, primarily surrounding high-stakes golf, such as the $57,000 check Jordan wrote to a man who was later found guilty of money laundering. However, in light of professional sports' open marriage to the online gaming business, even his storied obsession with casinos looks more antiquated now.
Given how high he has set the standard for athletes who play beyond the lines and his lasting legacy, Jordan deserves to be seen at 60 through the prism of an evolving narrative.
He is arguably still the most manipulated athlete in sports twenty years after his final jump shot in the professional sphere. If he were so willing, he might even have the strength to successfully challenge Helms for the position once he retired from basketball. Of course, he always made a nonpartisan argument.
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