Michael Jordan Wanted To Return To Chicago Bulls After 1998, Calls Retirement 'Maddening'

Michael Jordan entered the 1997-1998 NBA season knowing that it would be the last year of the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty. Head coach Phil Jackson referred to the season as “The Last Dance,” the same title ESPN used for its 10-part docuseries about Jordan and the ‘98 Bulls.

Following Chicago’s second straight championship in 1997, Bulls general manager Jerry Krause announced that Jackson wouldn’t be brought back the next season. Jordan made it clear that he didn’t want to play for another coach. Scottie Pippen was headed for free agency and wanted to play elsewhere after being underpaid for years with the Bulls. Dennis Rodman wasn’t signed beyond 1998.

The controversy that surrounded Chicago didn’t stop the team from continuing its dominance. Jordan won his fifth regular-season MVP award and his sixth NBA Finals MVP award, leading the Bulls to their second three-peat in eight years.

“Now after the sixth championship, things were beyond our control because it would’ve been suicidal at that point in their careers to bring back Pippen, Steve Kerr, Rodman, Ron Harper,” Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf said in Sunday’s finale of “The Last Dance.” “Their market value individually was gonna be too high. They weren’t gonna be worth the money they were gonna get on the market.”

Chicago’s front office was set on rebuilding, but after the 1998 Finals, Reinsdorf wanted to bring back Jordan and Jackson for at least another year. Jackson declined the offer, and Jordan stayed at home during the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA season.

“I went to Phil and offered him the opportunity to come back the next year,” Reinsdorf said. “But he said, ‘I don’t wanna go through a rebuild. I don’t wanna coach a bad team.’ That was the end. It just came to an end on its own. Had Michael been healthy and wanted to come back, I don’t doubt that Krause could’ve rebuilt another championship team in a couple of years. But it wasn’t gonna happen instantly.”

Jordan, true to his word that he would only play for Jackson, retired for a second time after the 1998 season. He wasn’t ready to walk away from the NBA. Jordan wanted to return with the rest of Chicago’s core and go for a fourth consecutive championship.

“If you asked all the guys who won in ‘98: Steve Kerr, Jud Buechler, blah, blah, blah, ‘We’ll give you a one-year contract to try for the seventh,’ Do you think they would’ve signed? Yes, they would’ve signed,” Jordan said in the final minutes of “The Last Dance.” “Would I have signed for one year? Yes, I would’ve signed for one year. I’d been signing one-year contracts up to that. Would Phil have done it? Yes.”

The Bulls completely turned over the roster from 1998 to 1999, moving on from five of their top seven players. That included Pippen, who had asked for a trade in late 1997 when he was recovering from an injury.

All signs were pointing toward Pippen leaving Chicago after the 1998 Finals, but Jordan isn’t so sure that his partner in crime would’ve turned down the chance to win a seventh ring.

“Pip, you would’ve had to do some convincing. But if Phil was gonna be there, if Dennis was gonna be there, if MJ was gonna be there, to win our seventh, Pip was not gonna miss out on that,” Jordan said.

Pippen was sent to the Houston Rockets that offseason in a sign-and-trade for Roy Rogers and a second-round draft pick.

The Bulls went from the NBA’s best franchise to arguably its worst in the blink of an eye. Chicago finished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference in 1999 with a .260 winning percentage. The Bulls missed the playoffs and failed to win more than 30 games in six straight seasons.

Two decades later, the way Chicago’s dynasty ended still doesn’t sit right with the greatest basketball player of all time.

“No,” Jordan replied when asked if it was satisfying to leave the NBA at his peak. “It was maddening because I felt like we could’ve won seven. I really believe that. We might not have, but man, just not to be able to try, that’s something that I just can’t accept.”

Ultimately, Jordan didn’t go out on top. He returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards in 2001. Jordan was no longer an elite star and the Wizards went 37-45 in both of his seasons with Washington.

There might have been nothing Reinsdorf or Krause could’ve done to keep Chicago’s core together for another year. Jackson had flirted with leaving the Bulls before the 97-98 season, and he seemed content with ending things in June 1998.

“This was a good time to go,” Jackson said. “This was a great run. We had a wonderful time. Good team. Time to go.”