In order to deal with Hall of Fame guard Michael Jordan, it is said, you must first understand that everything Michael Jordan does is on Michael Jordan’s terms.
It is the quality that set him apart from his peers, won him six NBA championships and has made him relentlessly elusive in retirement as he has pursued various business ventures. Did The Last Dance veer into outright hagiography at times? Yes, but it didn’t matter to a pandemic-era public because the fact that Jordan was saying anything was in itself noteworthy.
Along those lines, NBC took the public by complete surprise this week by announcing Jordan would contribute to its NBA coverage beginning next season. Fans immediately wondered whether Jordan would abandon his J.D. Salinger-esque streak and begin weighing in on the happenings of the Oklahoma City Thunder in January.
The answer, per Alex Sherman of CNBC Thursday, would appear to be no in the near term.
“The role is still nebulous,” Sherman wrote. “I’m told the initial plan is for Jordan to appear in taped segments during the season to provide analysis that will air during pregame shows or halftime shows. How that evolves over time is still TBD. The deal with Jordan was orchestrated by longtime NBC Sports executive Jon Miller, who has a decades-long relationship with [Jordan].”
The prospect of Jordan analytically discussing modern basketball is tantalizing—it was intriguing to see him greet then-Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, two obvious stylistic descendants, at the 2022 All-Star Game. However, Jordan is nothing if not image-conscious, and it appears he is going to pick his spots in year one.
