In 1997, the Chicago Bulls front office made a huge decision that not only changed the NBA landscape but also altered the trajectory of Michael Jordan’s career. They were going to rebuild after the season regardless of the outcome, a move that got fans confused and livid as the dynasty was still at the height of its success.
Firing Phil Jackson as head coach was part of the Bulls rebuild. Jordan made it clear that he wasn’t gonna play for any coach other than The Zen Master. For him, it wasn’t a big deal if the Bulls didn’t want to keep him.
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However, he believed that the entire situation that the Bulls created was very unfair for Jordan.
“The only downside of this whole thing, in my mind’s eye, is the fact that if Michael Jordan’s not ready to retire, we’re taking one of the greatest players, or heroes, that we’ve had in our society and limiting what he can do,” Jackson said in Roland Lazneby’s book, “Blood on the Horns: The Long Strange Ride of Michael Jordan’s Bulls.”
“We’re deprived of seeing someone extremely special go out the way he wants to go out, in the style he wants to go out, because we’ve never seen someone of his age with the superstar status that he’s had. I don’t know of another sports hero in our history who has been able to play at this level at this age,” he added.
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MJ could have won more titles for the Bulls
Despite the drama, Jordan and the Bulls finished the 1997-98 season as the No. 1 team in the league. MJ was crowned as the season MVP and they went on to win their sixth NBA championship, completing their second three-peat.
The Bulls’ chemistry was intact and their dominance was still undeniable. However, the front office carried on with their rebuilding. This led fans to wonder about the “what if.”
For Jordan, the Bulls could’ve won more NBA titles but unfortunately, it seemed like it wasn’t bound to happen.
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“It was a very sad situation because we never lost in the Finals,”said Michael in 2013 in an interview with good pal Ahmad Rashad. “I never knew what it felt like. At least, if you gonna;’Think I’ll be the king of the hill?’ Until somebody knocks you down there, you can shake the hand and say, ‘You enjoy now, you gonna see how difficult it is,’ but it never happened.”
“Now we have to live the rest of our lives with this idea that we could’ve won seven, we could’ve won eight, or we could’ve won nine… but we were halfway there. We could’ve done all that. But for whatever reason, it was not meant to be,” he added.
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A hot subject of debate
Jordan averaged 28.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.7 steals in 82 regular season games in his final year with the Bulls. That being said, Phil was right. MJ was still in his athletic peak despite his age and more importantly, he didn’t want to retire yet.
After the Bulls sacked Jackson, Jordan kept his word and retired for the second time in his career. This marked the end of the Bulls dynasty.
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To this day, how many more NBA championships Jordan and the Bulls could have won had they kept their core together remains a hot topic of debate within the NBA community.
Related: Paul Pierce agrees with Michael Jordan’s GOAT take: “He kind of summed it up”
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.