Michael Jeffrey Jordan, widely known by his nickname ‘MJ’, is a former American professional basketball player and the current executive of the National Basketball Association’s Charlotte Hornets (NBA). The athlete played in the NBA for 15 seasons, winning six Chicago Bulls championships. His biography on the official NBA website states: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time”. The athlete was one of his generation’s most influential in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
He dis sponsorships for various products as well. Likewise, He gained the popularity of Nike’s Air Jordan shoes, which were released in 1984 and are still successful today. Jordan also appeared as himself in the 1996 film Space Jam. Jordan was also the first billionaire athlete in the history of NBA in 2014.
Caption: MJ with the twenty-third Air Jordan sneaker
Source: sneakernews.com
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Michael Jordan: Early Life, Family, and Education
Jordan was born in (born 17 February 1963), Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY, USA, at Cumberland Hospital to Deloris (née Peoples), who served in the banking sector, and James R. Jordan Sr., a supervisor of appliances. His family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina when he was a toddler. Jordan joined the Laney High School varsity basketball team for a slam-dunk, 1979–80 Jordan attended Wilmington’s Emsley A. Laney High School where he highlighted his athletic career by playing basketball, baseball, and football. During his sophomore year, he tried for the varsity basketball team but at 1.80 m, he was too short to play at that level. His taller friend, Harvest Leroy Smith, was the only sophomore to make the team.
Caption: MJ’s childhood
Source: sneakernews.com
Jordan became the star of Laney’s junior varsity team, inspired to prove his worth, and played many 40-point games. He grew four inches 10 cm the following summer and was rigorously educated. Jordan averaged more than 25 points per game (ppg) over his last two seasons of high school play after earning a spot on the varsity roster. As a senior, in the 1981 McDonald’s All-American Game he was selected to play and scored 30 points after averaging 27 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists per season game.
Numerous college basketball teams have recruited Jordan like Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina, Syracuse, and Virginia. In 1981, Jordan accepted a scholarship in basketball from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a degree in cultural geography.
Caption: MJ’s family namely, Left: Deloris ( MJ’s mother), Middle: Michael and Right: James ( MJ’s father).
Source: sneakernews.com
Michael Jordan: Career and Achievements
In college:
As a rookie in the team-oriented program of coach Dean Smith, after averaging 13.4 ppg on 53.4 percent shooting (field goal percentage), he was named ACC Rookie of the Year. In the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown, led by future NBA foe Patrick Ewing, he took the game-winning goal. Jordan later described this shot as the primary turning point in his career in basketball. He averaged 17.7 ppg on 54.0 percent shooting during his three seasons with the Tar Heels and added 5.0 RPG. He was selected to the NCAA All-American First Team by consensus in both his sophomore (1983) and junior (1984) seasons.
Since receiving the Naismith and Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984, one year before his expected graduation, Jordan left North Carolina to join the NBA draft for 1984. Following Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets), and Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers), the Chicago Bulls drafted Jordan with the third overall pick.
Caption: Jordan playing for Laney H.S
Source: sneakernews.com
NBA player:
Jordan averaged 28.2 ppg on 51.5 percent shooting during his rookie season with the Bulls and helped make a team that had won 35 percent of games in the previous three playoff contestants of the seasons. He soon became a favorite fan even in rival stadiums, Roy S. Johnson of The New York Times described him as “the magnificent rookie of the bulls” in November and Jordan appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the heading “A Star Is Born” in December.
A dispute occurred before the All-Star game when news emerged that several experienced players-led by Isiah Thomas-were offended by the amount of attention Jordan got. Which led to a so-called “freeze-out” on Jordan, where players throughout the game refused to pass the ball to him. The uproar left Jordan relatively untouched when he returned to regular season play, and he would go on to be named Rookie of the Year. The Bulls ended season 38–44 and lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in four games in the playoffs ‘ first round.
Caption: MJ’s father James comforts MJ after winning his first NBA Title
Source: sneakernews.com
After Injury:
Jordan’s second season was cut short in the third game of the year when he broke his foot, causing him to miss 64 games. Following Jordan’s injury and a 30–52 record, the Bulls made the playoffs, at the time the fifth-worst record of any team qualified for the playoffs in NBA history. Jordan recovered in time for the playoffs and played well on return. Jordan set the still-unbroken record for points in a playoff game with 63 in Game 2 against a 1985–86 Boston Celtics team that is often considered to be one of the best in NBA history. Nevertheless, the Celtics did manage to sweep the series.
Jordan had fully recovered in time for the 1986–87 season and had one of NBA’s most successful scoring performances in the record. He became the only player to hit 3,000 points in a season other than Wilt Chamberlain, scoring a league-high 37.1 points on 48.2 percent shooting. Furthermore, as he became the first player in NBA history to record 200 steals and 100 rebounds in a season, Jordan displayed his defensive prowess. Considering the success of Jordan, Magic Johnson has won Most Valuable Player Award from the league. The Bulls hit 40 wins and for the third year in a row qualified to the playoffs.
Endorsement:
Jordan is one of the sports personalities with the most demand in history. For brands like Adidas, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Gatorade, McDonald’s, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI, he has been a big spokesperson. Jordan has had a long relationship with Gatorade and has starred in more than 20 advertisements for the brand since 1991, including the “Be Like Mike” ads in which children wanting to be like Jordan sang a song. In 1984 Nike created him a signature shoe, called the Air Jordan. One of the more famous Jordan shoe advertisements featured Spike Lee playing Mars Blackmon’s part.
Caption: Jordan for Coca Cola endorsement
Source: sneakernews.com
Michael Jordan: Personal Life and Wife
In September 1989 Jordan married Juanita Vanoy and they had two children, Jeffrey and Marcus, and a daughter, Jasmine. On 4 January 2002, Jordan and Vanoy filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, but soon afterward reconciled. Once again, they filed for divorce and the court-ordered for marital separation on 29 December 2006. The couple divorced stating that the decision had been made “mutually and amicably.” Juanita is estimated to have received a settlement of $168 million (equivalent to $213 million in 2019), making it the largest public record celebrity divorce settlement at the time.
Caption: Jorden and his first wife Juanita Vanoy with their 3 children
Source: sneakernews.com
On Christmas 2011, he proposed to his longtime girlfriend, the Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto. Shortly, the couple was married at the Episcopal Church in Bethesda-by- the-Sea on 27 April 2013. On 30 November 2013, it was revealed that the two were expecting together their first child. Prieto birthed identical twin daughters named Victoria and Ysabel on 11 February 2014. Jordan became a grandfather in 2019 when a son, whose father is former Indiana Pacer Rakeem Christmas, was born to his daughter Jasmine.
Caption: MJ’s second wife Yvette Prieto
Source: The sun
Retirement:
Jordan announced his retirement on October 6, 1993, citing a lack of will to play the game. Jordan later stated that his father’s death also had affected his decision three months earlier. Jordan’s father was killed by two youths, Daniel Green and Larry Martin Demery. The culprits carjacked his luxury Lexus bearing the license plate ‘UNC 0023’ in Lumberton, North Carolina, on 23 July 1993. They dumped his body in a swamp in South Carolina until 3 August. The cops identified the attackers from calls they made on the cell phone of James Jordan.
Caption: MJ chooses to retire after his father’s death
Source: sneakernews.com
The Bulls achieved a 55–27 record in the lineup in the 1993–94 season without Jordan. They lost to the New York Knicks in the second playoff round. Nevertheless, Jordan supported the team when he decided to return to the Bulls. On 18 March 1995, through a two-word press release, Jordan announced his return to the NBA: “I am back.”
With Phil Jackson’s contract expiring, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman’s imminent exits approaching, Jordan retired on January 13, 1999, for the second time. Jordan returned to the NBA on 19 January 2000. He did not resume as a player, but as part-owner and president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards
Michael Jordan: Net Worth and Social media
In June 2010, Forbes magazine ranked Jordan as the world’s 20th most influential celebrity with $55 million raised from June 2009 through June 2010. Jordan Brand produces $1 billion in sales for Adidas according to Forbes article.
Caption: MJ talking about his new shoes on the Letterman show
Source: sneakernews.com
According to Forbes 2019, he has a total net worth of $1.3 billion. In June 2014, the athlete was the first NBA player to become a billionaire. As his stake in the Charlotte Hornets rose from 80% to 89.5%. Charlotte Business Journal presented Jordan with Business Person of the Year on January 20, 2015. In 2017, he was part-owner of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins. Forbes has designated Jordan as the 2017 athlete with the highest profits in career. Backed by Robert F. Smith and Oprah Winfrey, he is the third richest African American.
In addition, the NBA star is available on Twitter by the username ‘Jumpman23’, with 3.8 million followers. Similarly, he is also accessible on Instagram with 19.3 million followers by the username ‘Jumpman23’. He loves to promote his brand, young talent in sports his family and friends in social media.
Michael Jordan: Body Measurements
The NBA star, Michael Jordan is 1.98 meters tall and weighs 117 kgs. His body measurements are 44 inches (chest ), 36 inches (waist) and 36 inches (hips ).
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