18 Years Ago Today Michael Jordan Returned To The NBA And Reminded Everyone Why He's The GOAT

Man did this make me feel old. People who were born when this happened are now entering college, think about that for a second. I hate these random reminders of just how old we’re all getting but it is a nice time to jog down memory lane and go back to something that was actually pretty damn impressive. When it comes to Michael Jordan a lot of people look at his two year run with the Wizards as a blemish on his career. Maybe it’s because they only won 37 games in both of his two seasons there, but I never looked as Wizard Jordan as a negative. If anything, it only cemented his GOAT status. You come back after three years away from the game and immediately get back to averaging 22.9/5.7/5.2/1.4 at 38 years old in your first season? Average 21.2/5.0/5.9/1.5 over that two year period which included you dropping 51 points as a 38 year old? Ridiculous

Let’s also not forget he donated his entire salary to 9/11 victims, a pretty cool move if you ask me. If you look closer are each of his two seasons in WSH you see in Year 1 he topped 30 points 11 times, 40 points 4 times and 50 points once. Then at age 39 in Year 2 he topped 30 points 6 times and 40 points 3 times. He became the first 40 year old to score over 40. In 2001 he finished 13th in MVP voting which is utterly ridiculous. How many people can walk away for that long, come back that old, and end up being a top 15 player? I’m going to go out on a limb and say not many. This would basically be like LeBron suddenly retiring this year (age 34) and then coming back in 3 years and picking up right where he left off. He’s maybe the only other person alive who could do what Jordan did in the early 2000s. Even if his last All Star appearance in 2003 was more about his legacy, he still put up All Star numbers in his late 30s which is extremely rare. Kobe/Wade/Duncan made All Star Games in their age 37-38 season, but their numbers were a shell of what we were used to. Duncan made it averaging 13/9, Kobe 17/3 and Wade 15/4. Jordan’s “falling off” was still 20ppg. That’s some goat shit.