Michael Jordan revealed during the last episode of “The Last Dance” docuseries that he would have come back with the Chicago Bulls during the 1998-99 season if Phil Jackson was still the head coach.
After Chicago won the 1998 Finals over the Utah Jazz for the franchise's sixth championship in eight years, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf told Jackson he could return despite general manager Jerry Krause's statement that the famed head coach would not be back for the following season.
Jackson told Reinsdorf that it was time to retire, though. The Zen Master could sense that his relationship with Krause had reached its end and that it would put the late Bulls architect in an awkward position after what happened at the beginning of the 1997-98 campaign.
Krause famously told the Chicago media that the 1997-98 season was going to be Jackson's last year as head coach, even if the team went 82-0 and won the title. The Bulls replaced Jackson with Tim Floyd and the rest is history. Chicago hasn't been back to the Finals since the Jordan-Jackson era.
Meanwhile, Jackson won five more titles after moving on from the Bulls.
After hearing that Michael Jordan would have signed a one-year deal to chase title No. 7 in 1998-99, it's only fair to wonder if His Airness could have led the Bulls to the championship during the 1998-99 season — which only featured 50 games in the regular season because of a lockout.
If Michael Jordan could have convinced Scottie Pippen to stay one more year and the other key pieces on the team such as Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper remained, there's a good chance the Bulls do win No. 7. Of course, convincing Pippen to stay would have been difficult given his fat contract offer from the Houston Rockets, but the idea of ring No.7 and true basketball immortality would have certainly been enticing for Pippen since he was Jordan's No. 2 guy.
The San Antonio Spurs wound up winning the title in 1999. They defeated the New York Knicks in five games, with Tim Duncan winning Finals MVP at the age of 22. It's safe to say Duncan wouldn't have averaged 27.4 points on 53.7 percent shooting from the field if he was going up against a defense led by Jordan, Pippen and Rodman.
You also have to factor in Luc Longley and his 7-foot-2 frame.
MJ was forced to retire because Phil wasn't the head coach of the Bulls anymore. Jerry Krause should have never publicly said that Jackson was going to be let go after 1997-98. Sure, it gave us “The Last Dance,” but Bulls fans missed out on a chance to watch Jordan and Co. capture ring No. 7.
Since it was the lockout year, Jordan would have been fairly fresh for the 1999 playoffs had he and Jackson decided to run it back. It's impossible to predict what would have happened, but we can only look at history — one that has shown us that you really shouldn't doubt Michael Jordan.
“The Last Dance” docuseries provided ample examples of Jordan using little things as motivation to destroy his opponents. One can only imagine what Jordan would have done if he played in 1998-99 had pundits said the Bulls couldn't win No. 7.
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