January 13, 1999 is a day that will live in infamy for Bulls fans, NBA fans and sports fan alike as Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls after 13 seasons for the second and what we thought would be the last time.
This was during the NBA lockout of 1999 in which the season ended up being cut short to 50 games and a bunch of out of shape players led to one of the most forgettable seasons in NBA history as the league searched for a new identity after “His Airness” retired.
Jordan was 35 and coming off of his 6th NBA championship and second three-peat with the perfect career defining shot to clinch his final title and close the book on his career or so we thought.
Of course Jordan would return after two years away from the court and play two more forgettable seasons as a member of the Washington Wizards. This was still the day that an era truly ended for the NBA though as the day one of the greatest dynasties of all time came to an end.
Here was Jordan’s statement at the press conference:
I am here to announce my retirement from the game of basketball. It won’t be another announcement to baseball or anything to that nature. I think everyone has their own reasons. There has been a lot of speculation in terms of why. I am pretty sure I will get to that point once you guys get the opportunity to ask questions. I want to say thank you to both of the gentleman here, Mr. Stern and Mr. Reinsdorf, for presenting me with the opportunity to play the game of basketball, and certainly to give me an opportunity to come to Chicago and meet my beautiful wife and build a family here. My family in North Carolina and a lot of my friends who have come up to support this day and support me, who’ve always supported me once I stepped out on the basketball court and even when I didn’t play on the basketball court. I want to say thanks to both of those gentleman and to all the fans in Chicago for allowing me to come here and they have adapted me to be one of theirs and in response I tried to step on the basketball court and get rid of the gangster mentality that Chicago was known for for a long time. I think successfully, myself and my teammates and the whole organization has made an effort to change the perspective about Chicago. We are hopefully going to be known as a championship city and I hope it continues on even when Michael Jordan is not in uniform.
