Posted on 05/24/2023 9:42:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
kip Bayless wants answers on the decades-old conspiracy theory that Michael Jordan’s first NBA retirement was actually a forced suspension.
Jordan shocked the world in 1993 when he left the NBA after winning his third straight title to pursue a career in baseball. Retiring in the prime of his career rather than cementing himself as the greatest NBA player of all time went against everything Bayless perceives the legendary competitor to be.
Jordan has maintained that his baseball detour was meant to fulfill the wishes of his late father. But there have always been conspiracies surrounding his first retirement, with some believing it was a sort of wink-and-nudge suspension from then-NBA commissioner David Stern who was set on punishing Jordan for his notorious gambling escapades.
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i remember hearing the gambling rumor even then.
Due to gambling, from what I heard.
This is just a hack journalist who used to run around calling Troy Aikman gay…Michael’s dad always wanted him to play baseball and he felt that he did all he could do in the NBA. He went out to tryout for baseball to honor his father who was murdered in 93. Dude is a piece of work.
Please make him go away. Please. I’m begging. Make Skip Bayless go away.
None of it sounds real.
strange stuff happens. did he gamble? that part doesn’t seem to ever be disputed. just because you are fabulously wealthy doesn’t mean you don’t become a serious gambler. (if anything, it can enable it).
dirty laundry is covered up when hundreds of millions are at stake.
if it happened, no one wanted a repeat of the pete rose business. (pete was also had an extremely successful career and gambled, allegedly including on games his team was in, apparently).
And further, the opportunity to try another professional sport before his athletic prime passed him by.
There is zero chance anyone in the NBA leadership in that era would have suspended Jordan. He was the biggest star on the planet and making them billions.
He could have murdered a school bus filled with children and the NBA would have covered it up.
The Bulls probably would have won eight straight championships if not for the two year “hiatus”. At least it gave Chicago a two year break from the victory rioting.
The way I see it, at least he wasn’t taking a knee.
John Edwards bayless isn’t qualified to carry a dirty diaper
And possibly prolonged Jordan’s career - not having the wear and tear on his body, especially when you had teams like Detroit just hack him to death in order to stop him. If anyone should have been kicked out of the league during that time frame, it should have been Lambrier.
Laimbeer was one of the crew that Johnny Most referred to as “the hatchet brothers”. Bird holds a strong dislike for him to this day.
His brother Rick Bayless ain’t so great either. While not as obnoxious as Skip, he’s a big supporter of illegal immigrants which I think is pretty common for people in the restaurant business. I’m not sure how the rest of Rick’s politics are, but I’m guessing pretty far left.
Mike isn’t coming out of the Hall of Fame. He’s not coming out of anyone’s list.
This guy isn’t going to uncover any “news.”
Skip should just go away.
1993?
Okay, now I feel OLD!..........................
If I remember that era of the NBA correctly, the media were partly responsible for the Pistons style of play. The media glamourized the Pistons during that time.
It was such a relief to finally get past Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals.
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