"I knew he felt comfortable enough to come back in the building" - B.J. Armstrong recalls a phone conversation with MJ that convinced him to unretire

By the time the 1994 NBA season was winding down, the Chicago Bulls had changed.

Michael Jordan was no longer the talk. He was living a quieter life in the Southern League, far away from the flashing lights of the United Center.

The Bulls missed out on the NBA Finals for the first time in three years, and the general feeling around the organization was that Jordan was missed.

Calling MJ

Bulls point guard B.J. Armstrong reached out through a call.

But it was a call to connect with his old friend, not to coax him back into uniform. It was just a conversation. A moment between two people who had once shared locker rooms, victory-laced locker celebrations and the grind of three straight titles.

“I haven’t seen him in a while, and it was good, and one thing led to another, and we were talking, and it kind of just happened,'” Armstrong said. “We wanted him to know that he was part of our group. We always wanted him to know that whatever he had going on, he always had a home.”

This wasn’t a calculated pitch or a front office maneuver. It was far more organic than that. It was the kind of reminder Jordan didn’t need to hear from general manager Jerry Krause or head coach Phil Jackson. It had to come from someone who knew him beyond being the face of the organization.

Armstrong, the 18th overall pick in the 1989 draft, had been around long enough to see the different layers of Jordan — the ruthless competitor, the charismatic leader, and the loyal teammate. They had ridden the wave of the Bulls’ first three-peat together, battling past the Detroit Pistons, toppling Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers, and stomping through the Phoenix Suns in 1993.

But in 1994, B.J. was no longer just a role player beside a legend. He was an All-Star, leading a Bulls team without Jordan and keeping them afloat with 14.8 points and 3.9 assists per game.

Still, despite the stats and the solo spotlight, the shadow of “His Ariness” was inescapable. And in that shadow, Armstrong’s voice carried weight — not in a public sense, but in a private, personal way that reminded Jordan where he belonged.

Coming back

When MJ finally returned in March 1995, the NBA tilted on its axis. The press release was brief — just two words: “I’m back.” But behind that statement was a long string of conversations, moments and affirmations — one of which had started on Armstrong’s phone.

“I knew he felt comfortable enough to come back in the building,” Armstrong said, reflecting on Jordan’s return. “That was great for him. I thought it was great for the game. I’m taking no credit for that because, in the end, you just want to see your friend happy.”

There was no playbook for pulling the world’s most recognized superstar out of retirement.

He had walked away at the height of his powers with three rings, three Finals MVP awards, and the weight of a father’s death still fresh on his soul. But time and the right voices have a way of clearing the fog. B.J. wasn’t selling a dream or pushing a comeback. He was just offering space, a reminder that the locker room still had a chair with Jordan’s name on it.

But by the time the dynasty rebooted, Armstrong was gone. In the 1995 NBA Expansion Draft, he was the first player picked, selected by the Toronto Raptors. Refusing to report, the Raptors, in turn, shipped him to the Golden State Warriors.

Meanwhile, “Mr. Air” was back to dominating headlines. From that March 1995 return to the three-peat finale in 1998, the second Bulls dynasty eclipsed the first in drama, dominance and legacy.

Armstrong watched it from afar as a former teammate who had helped nudge the door open when the game needed its biggest star to walk back through it.

“I knew he felt comfortable enough to come back in the building” – B.J. Armstrong recalls a phone conversation with MJ that convinced him to unretire

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