As the narrative of “The Last Dance” neared its conclusion, it was made clear that the decision to blow up the team did not lie solely on the shoulders of then-Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause. As it turns out, team owner Jerry Reinsdorf was equally, if not even more involved in that contentious decision. Reinsdorf recently spoke out about why he ultimately decided to call it a day for the six-time champion Bulls, and according to the 84-year-old billionaire, one of the major factors that came into play was Michael Jordan's cigar cutter finger injury.
“The thing nobody wants to remember,” Reinsdorf said, via Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, “during lockout, Michael was screwing around with a cigar cutter, and he cut his finger. He couldn't have played that year. He had to have surgery on the finger, so even if we could've brought everybody back, it wouldn't have made any sense.”
That's one perspective not many are aware of. What Reinsdorf is implying here is that Michael Jordan is also partly to blame for Chicago's infamous breakup. Then again, based solely on the narrative we've all seen on “The Last Dance,” it seems that Reinsdorf and the rest of the Bulls front office already made the decision to blow up the roster even before Jordan cut his finger during the offseason.
As a matter of fact, the whole premise of the docuseries is that everyone pretty much knew that the 1997-98 campaign was going to be Chicago's last season together, so in this respect, Reinsdorf's statement seems more of justification rather than a cause.
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