Conspiracies force NBA Commissioner to deny Michael Jordan’s retirement was secret NBA suspension for gambling

Michael Jordan’s love of gambling is legendary.

six times NBA The champion was extremely competitive and had a win-at-all-costs mentality both on and off the field.

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However, MJ has always maintained that he has a “competition problem” rather than a gambling problem.

Jordan He has never been easygoing with his friends and colleagues, as seen in Netflix’s popular documentary ‘The Last Dance’ when he competed in a coin toss against Bulls safety John Michael Wozniack and lost to him.

Jordan once received $17,000 in cards from a Bulls teammateIn order to pay off his debt, he had to call his rich father to lend him money.

While cards were Jordan’s most common form of gambling, golf was the most expensive.

In May 1993, Jordan’s golf partner Richard Esquinas published a book titled ‘Michael and Me: Our Gambling Addiction… My Cry for Help’.

In the book, Esquinas claimed Jordan’s golf gambling debt was more than $1.2 million. Jordan later denied these allegations and the full amount was apparently never paid.

However, Esquinas later announced that he and Jordan agreed to pay the debt at $300,000.

That same year, Jordan shocked the world by announcing that he was quitting basketball and playing baseball due to “physical and mental exhaustion.”

Jordan was at the peak of his powers and was coming off a historic three-peat. Chicago Bulls. His retirement came so suddenly that many at the time suspected foul play.

Conspiracy theorists went overboard and suggested that MJ’s retirement in 1993 was actually a secret suspension from the league for gambling.

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They followed a story by Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register this suggested There is a connection between Jordan’s gambling debts and the death of his father, James Jordan, in 1993.

Former NBA Commissioner David Stern categorically denied these rumors and they have since been debunked.

Later, ESPN columnist Bill Simmons sat down with Stern at the time, and Stern laughed off the theory.

simmons wrote: “His (Stern’s) famous sarcasm lurks just around the corner.

“Like his sarcastic responses to some classic conspiracy theories, including that MJ’s baseball career was a result of Stern bringing MJ to his home to distract him from gambling.

“‘In my living room!’ “My wife still wants to know where you were that day,” he adds, shaking his head.

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Two years later, famed New York Times sports writer George Vecsey wrote: “David Stern says there is no secret suspension for gambling, and I believe he is the commissioner of the NBA.

“You can’t hide something like this.”

In 2010, Ron Shelton, director of the ESPN ’30 for 30′ documentary ‘Jordan Rides the Bus,’ revisited the rumor that Jordan first retired from the league to play baseball in 1993 due to his intense interest in gambling.

Shelton said that he started working on the documentary, believing that the NBA was successful in this regard. there was He suspended MJ for this reason, but subsequent investigations “convinced him it was ridiculous”.

He said he found no reason to believe the NBA was quietly punishing Jordan for gambling.

“I probably thought, like most people in America, that he left the NBA for a year because of gambling,” Shelton said. in question.

“After researching the project, I was completely convinced that it was bullshit. And like most people probably, I thought he was a horribly bad baseball player. And after researching it, I had a different view on that too.”

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After retiring from playing basketball, Jordan returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three more championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

In doing so, he was considered the greatest basketball player of all time, and his love of gambling was nothing more than an interesting footnote in the life of the basketball GOAT.

Billionaire MJ has ultimately managed to avoid any losses in golf or cards thanks to his staggering net worth.

For Jordan, gambling was nothing more than a hobby that allowed him to quench his thirst for competition when he couldn’t win the NBA championship.

Despite this, No 23 admitted to making reckless gambling decisions when discussing his expensive entertainment with 60 Minutes’ Ed Bradley in 2005.

“Yes, I pushed myself into situations I couldn’t walk away from and pushed myself to the limit,” Jordan said.

“Is that a challenge? Yes, it depends on how you look at it. If you’re willing to risk your livelihood and your family, then yes.”