What if Michael Jordan has joined a super-team instead of the Wizards?

The biggest news of the NBA offseason has been Kevin Durant’s decision to form a super-team with Stephen Curry and his Golden State Warriors. The Warriors expect that the addition of Durant will enable them to win the championship again next year.

Some slightly less influential free agents are also hoping to be the difference maker for next year’s champion. David West, like KD, threw in with the Warriors, but he’s doing it for the veteran’s minimum. Chris “The Birdman” Andersen did likewise for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And it’s not just the active players who are eager to chase rings, either; retired players want to get in on the action, too. Larry Sanders would like to play for the Warriors…or maybe for the Cavaliers…for anybody, really. Ray Allen, at age 41, wants another title shot, too. Even former Warriors, Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis, still BELIEVE in themselves, although the rest of us don’t anymore.

All this excitement about super-teams, ring-chasing, and coming-out-of-retirements has me thinking of a juicy hypothetical: what if Michael Jordan had opted to join a super-team when he came out of retirement for the second time in 2001? Could he have provided that crucial push to propel a contender past the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002 or the San Antonio Spurs in 2003? Could he have won a seventh ring for himself?

Before you dismiss the post-retirement Jordan as “washed-up”, let’s take a closer look at his stats from the final phase of his career.

What could old-man Michael Jordan offer a super-team?

Jordan played his last two seasons — in 2001-02 and 2002-03 — for the Washington Wizards, after a three-year absence from the NBA following his sixth championship. He was 38 years-old when he started that first season with the Wiz and 40 by the time he retired for the third-and-final time.

In these twilight years, Jordan was a little heavier and a little slower than he had been in his tongue-wagging prime, shifting from his natural shooting guard position to play more of a small forward role for Washington. His defense was no longer elite and his offense was more limited too, but he was still really good! He leaned heavily on a devastating post-up game which featured a steady diet of fadeaway jumpers.

A current comparable for a late-career Jordan might be the Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan. Don’t believe me? Check this comparison of MJ’s final season to DeRozan’s most recent one:

Jordan vs DeRozan /

That’s a pretty favorable comparison for a 39-year-old, even if he was the G.O.A.T. DeRozan is in his prime; an All-Star, one of the two best players on a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals, an Olympian, and the recent signatory of a five-year, $139 million max contract.

DeRozan and late-career Jordan share some similarities in style of play as well. Both work(ed) mostly within the three-point arc and excel(ed) in the midrange; however, DeRozan gets to the basket effectively and, as a result, he attempted more than twice as many free throws per game last year as Jordan did in 2003. As such, a better comp for the less-explosive version of Jordan might be Dwyane Wade. Here are his stats from last season compared to Jordan’s final year:

Jordan vs Wade /

This is another favorable comparison for MJ, as Wade was also an All-Star last season and his $47 million deal with Chicago demonstrates that he is expected to make key contributions to a potential playoff team next year.

What stands out to me from the stat line of Jordan’s final season is his incredible work load. He played in every single game. And he played a lot too, 37 minutes a night! That’s more than nearly every player in 2015-16 — with the exception of workhorses Kyle Lowry (37.0 mpg) and James Harden (38.1 mpg) — and it’s more than any other 39-year-old in NBA history. In fact, since 2003, only two other players who were at least 35 years-old played at least 35 mpg in a season: Jason Kidd (in 2008-09 and 2009-10) and Allen (in 2010-11). Of course Jordan didn’t just play, he got his shots, too, finishing a healthy 28.7 percent of his team’s possessions when he was on the court.

Which team had the most to offer MJ?

The big problem with Jordan spending his last two seasons with the Wizards was that they weren’t very good at basketball. During the 2001-02 season, Washington’s highest paid players were Mitch Richmond (playing for the Lakers after being bought out by the Wiz) and Loy Vaught (playing for nobody after being waived). Alongside Jordan, the Wizards trotted out a starting lineup of Chris Whitney, Jahidi White, Christian Laettner/Popeye Jones, and a young Rip Hamilton. They won 37 games. The following season they added some useful pieces in Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes, and Bryon Russell, but they still finished below 0.500 and missed the playoffs once again.

I’m not quite sure why Jordan agreed to while away his final years with these sad sacks, but as long as I’m in control of this NBA fantasy, he’s not going to do it again.

The idea is to find a team that could have won a ring with Jordan’s help, so teams that got close to a championship without him would be a good place to start. To be thorough, I’m considering any team that made the playoffs in 2002 or 2003. I’m excluding teams that won the Championship without Jordan’s help, including the Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002), the Spurs (1999, 2003, 2005), and the Detroit Pistons (2004). Below I plot every player with a positive VORP who played on each of the remaining 15 franchises that were eligible for the MJ sweepstakes. In the plot, each franchise is represented by the season — 2002 or 2003 — when they had the higher collective team VORP (sum of positive VORP scores only). Every player with a VORP as high as Jordan’s (2.3 or more) is labeled in the plot and the playoff results from that season are listed. Teams with wider bars were more qualified to contend for a championship.

The quality of each franchise to feature in the 2002 or 2003 NBA Playoffs as measured by the sum of individual VORP scores for players making positive contributions to the team.

Michael Jordan Superteams 2002 2003 /

Aside from overall team quality, another important consideration is how MJ would have complemented the existing roster. Jordan would have been best utilized on a team that had a great big man or point guard, but one that needed some help on the wing. In the plot above, positional depth is illustrated by color; wings (SG, SF) on the left in dark blue and non-wings (PG, PF, C) on the right in light blue. So, teams that have more light blue than dark blue would have been the best fit for MJ. Some specific assets that would have helped to cover up Jordan’s late-career limitations might have been: a table-setting point guard, a three-point shooting wing partner, and a rim-protecting big.

Teams that still wouldn’t be title contenders even with the G.O.A.T.

These teams made the playoffs during Jordan’s last two seasons, but probably weren’t good enough to give him a chance at winning a seventh ring.

Toronto Raptors

Best result from 2002 or 2003: Lost Eastern Conference First Round (2002)
All-NBA selections in 2002 or 2003: None
All-Star selections in 2003 or 2003: Vince Carter (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors in 2002 or 2003: None
Other notable players in 2002 or 2003: Hakeem Olajuwon
Outlook: The Raptors were perhaps the worst team to make the playoffs during this final phase of Jordan’s career. Although it would have been fun to see an all-Tar-Heel wing combo of Carter and Jordan, these Raptors probably didn’t offer MJ much more support than the Wiz.

Milwaukee Bucks

Best result: Lost Eastern Conference First Round (2003)
All-NBA selections: None
All-Star selections: Ray Allen (2002)
Other key contributors: Sam Cassell, Michael Redd
Other notable players: Toni Kukoc, Gary Payton, Glen Robinson
Outlook: The Bucks — led by Allen, Sam Cassell, and Glen “Big Dog” Robinson — reached the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals where they pushed the 76ers to seven games. Sadly the trio never capitalized on their feel-good moment; Robinson was out of Milwaukee after the 2001-02 season and Allen followed him out of town in the middle of the 2002-03 season, when he was traded to Seattle for Gary Payton. Anyways, adding Jordan wouldn’t have fixed the Bucks’ fatal flaw: a lack of quality big men.

Boston Celtics

Best result: Lost Eastern Conference Finals (2002)
All-NBA selections: Paul Pierce (3rd: 2002, 2003)
All-Star selections: Paul Pierce (2002, 2003), Antoine Walker (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors: None
Other notable players: None
Outlook: That the duo of Pierce and Walker could carry the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals without much other help highlights an imbalance that existed between the conferences in the early 2000s; most of the best teams resided in the West then, just as they do now. Jordan needed more than just Pierce and Walker to win it all.

Philadelphia 76ers

Best result: Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals (2003)
All-NBA selections: Allen Iverson (2nd: 2002, 2003), Dikembe Mutombo (3rd: 2002)
All-Star selections: Allen Iverson (2002, 2003), Dikembe Mutombo (2002)
Other key contributors: Eric Snow
Other notable players: None
Outlook: Allen Iverson, Eric Snow, and Dikembe Mutombo carried the 76ers to the 2001 NBA finals — earning their right to be the Eastern Conference’s sacrificial lamb to the Lakers — so they knew what it would take to win a title. Jordan could have helped, but I’m not sure it would have been a good fit for him. In 2001-02, Iverson and Jordan were the two most ball hoggin-iest players in the league, using 38 percent and 36 percent of their team’s possessions, respectively. It would have been interesting to see how they ended up sharing the ball with each other. I’m guessing not very nicely.

Orlando Magic

Best result: Lost Eastern Conference First Round (2002, 2003)
All-NBA selections: Tracy McGrady (1st: 2002, 2003)
All-Star selections: Tracy McGrady (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors: Darrell Armstrong
Other notable players: Grant Hill, Horace Grant, Mike Miller, Shawn Kemp
Outlook: This team displayed tantalizing potential with a trio of promising young wings: Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Mike Miller. Sadly, the Magic was ultimately derailed by Grant Hill’s recurring ankle injuries. Like the Bucks (Allen), the Raptors (Carter), the Celtics (Pierce), and the 76ers (Iverson) here’s another team whose best player (T-Mac) was a shooting guard, so they’re probably not the optimum fit for Jordan, either.

Phoenix Suns

Best result: Lost Western Conference First Round (2003)
All-NBA selections: Stephon Marbury (3rd: 2003)
All-Star selections: Stephon Marbury (2003), Shawn Marion (2003)
Other key contributors: None
Other notable players: Penny Hardaway, Amar’e Stoudemire
Outlook: There was definitely space for another wing on the Suns roster. A trio of Stephon Marbury, Michael Jordan, and Shawn Marion would have been the core of a very quirky starting unit, but one that would have been ultimately lacking in three-point shooting; all three players posted a very limited 33% career-mark from deep. The Suns added a quality big man in 2002-03 by drafting Amar’e Stoudemire, but the 19-year-old was a little raw in his debut season out of high school and he wasn’t going to help enough to give Jordan another shot at a title.

Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets

Best result: Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals (2002)
All-NBA selections: Jamal Mashburn (3rd: 2003)
All-Star selections: Jamal Mashburn (2003), Baron Davis (2002)
Other key contributors: P.J. Brown
Other notable players: None
Outlook: This team is a bit of a historical afterthought, but they had some fun pieces. Jamal Mashburn had a career year in 2002-03, earning the only All-Star and All-NBA recognition of his life. Likewise a precocious 22-year-old Baron Davis posted some of his best numbers in 2001-02 and earned one of his two career All Star nods. Don’t sleep on P.J. Brown, either, he was on the 2001 All-Defensive team and would have been a nice complement to Jordan. Still, it feels like this team is missing too much star power to be serious title contenders.

Mar 27, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; A view of the Indiana Pacers logo on the shorts of guard George Hill (3) in the game against the Houston Rockets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets by the score of 104-101. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Some teams with potentially intriguing MJ pairings

Each of these three teams was led by one of Jordan’s contemporaries. As potential Superteam-mates they would make fun pairings for MJ; a few of his old rivals as well as his greatest teammate of all.

Indiana Pacers

Best result: Lost Eastern Conference First Round (2002, 2003)
All-NBA selections: Jermaine O’Neal (3rd: 2002, 2003)
All-Star selections: Jermaine O’Neal (2002, 2003), Brad Miller (2003)
Other key contributors: Metta World Peace
Other notable players: Reggie Miller
Outlook: This was a team in transition. Starting in 1990, Reggie Miller led the Pacers to the playoffs for 10-of-11 seasons, culminating in their appearance in the 2000 NBA Finals. By 2004, when the Pacers made it back to the Eastern Conference Finals, Miller had ceded some of his leadership responsibilities to his teammates, Metta World Peace and Jermaine O’Neal. In the intervening years, the Pacers had a lot of other useful players: Brad Miller, Jamaal Tinsley, Al Harrington, Ron Mercer, Austin Croshere, etc. Unfortunately, the Pacers were coached by Bad-Boy instigator Isiah Thomas during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, and Jordan probably wouldn’t have been down with that.

Seattle Supersonics

Best result: Lost Western Conference First Round (2002)
All-NBA selections: Gary Payton (2nd: 2002)
All-Star selections: Gary Payton (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors: Brent Barry, Rashard Lewis
Other notable players: None
Outlook: This would be Jordan’s chance to join forces with his foe from the 1996 NBA Finals, Gary Payton. The Glove’s defensive prowess along with the three-point shooting provided by Sonic wings, Brent Barry and Rashard Lewis, would have been helpful counterweights to the strengths and weaknesses of Jordan’s old-man game. However, Seattle would still be left with something to be desired in the paint and probably would not be well-rounded enough for a title run.

Portland Trail Blazers

Best result: Lost Western Conference First Round (2002, 2003)
All-NBA selections: None
All-Star selections: None
Other key contributors: Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Dale Davis
Other notable players: Scottie Pippen, Arvydas Sabonis, Zach Randolph
Outlook: The Trail Blazers are kinda the quintessential just-missed-beating-the-Lakers team. In the 2000 Western Conference Finals, Portland had a 71-58 lead over the Lakers entering the fourth quarter of Game 7. The Blazers’ advantage went up in smoke as they managed only 13 points over the final 12 minutes, opening the door to the Lakers first of three consecutive championships.

I’m sure those Blazers would have been happy to hand the ball over to Michael Jordan when things were falling apart at the end of their Game 7 nightmare. A lot of the principals from that 2000 team were still around when Jordan returned to the league a few seasons later: Rasheed Wallace, Arvydas Sabonis, Bonzi Wells, Damon Stoudamire, and, of course, Scottie Pippen, M.J.’s constant companion. The Blazers supporting cast is probably comparable to what Jordan and Pippen had with the Bulls during any of their six championship seasons. Portland’s deficiency, though, was always the lack of a true alpha dog and it would probably have been unfair of them to expect a 40-year-old Jordan to fill that role.

Aug 26, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Former basketball great Michael Jordan sits in Roger Federer /

Not-quite Superteams

Each of the teams remaining on the list had a legit superstar big man or point guard, if not both. Still, the supporting cast on these next three teams probably isn’t enough to qualify them as “super”.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Best result: Lost Western Conference First Round (2002, 2003)
All-NBA selections: Kevin Garnett (1st: 2003, 2nd: 2002)
All-Star selections: Kevin Garnett (2002, 2003), Wally Szczerbiak (2002)
Other key contributors: None
Other notable players: Chauncey Billups
Outlook: Kevin Garnett would have been an ideal partner for an older Jordan. He was great; an All-NBA power forward in 2002 and 2003, a perennial 1st-Team All-Defensive selection from 2000 to 2005, and the league’s MVP in 2004. That year, KG dragged a pretty modest Timberwolves roster to Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals and he could have used Jordan’s help there, in Minnesota. In addition to what Garnett brought to the table, Wally Szcerbiak’s solid outside shooting would have been a good foil for Jordan’s post game, too. Perhaps Garnett-Jordan-Szcerbiak could have been the “Big 3” before Garnett-Pierce-Allen ever converged in Boston? Probably not, but it’s fun to think about.

Utah Jazz

Best result: Lost Western Conference First Round (2002, 2003)
All-NBA selections: None
All-Star selections: Karl Malone (2002)
Other key contributors: Andrei Kirilenko, John Stockton, Matt Harpring
Other notable players: None
Outlook: After losing to Jordan and the Bulls in the 1997 and 1998 Finals, Karl Malone and John Stockton kept bringing the Jazz back to the playoffs for each of the next five seasons, including the 2002 and 2003 postseasons. However, the aging duo were never able to get past the Western Conference Semifinals again. In theory, Jordan could have fit in nicely with Stockton and Malone. Hey, it worked for the Dream Team, right? But Stockton and Malone were just as old as Jordan and you probably shouldn’t build your Superteam around three dudes pushing forty. Rookie Andrei Kirilenko added some fresh blood to the squad in 2001-02 leading up to his breakout season in 2004, but they would have needed more youth to make it work.

New Jersey Nets

Best result: Lost Finals (2002, 2003)
All-NBA selections: Jason Kidd (1st: 2002, 2nd: 2003)
All-Star selections: Jason Kidd (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors: Richard Jefferson, Kerry Kittles
Other notable players: Dikembe Mutombo, Kenyon Martin, Brian Scalabrine
Outlook: With Jason Kidd, the Nets had an all-time great table-setting point guard playing in his prime. In 2002-03 they added a legit rim protector in Dikembe Mutombo, who was one year removed from being an All-Star and All-Defensive Team member in Philadelphia. They also had Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson, and Kerry Kittles to round out their starting five. Impressively, they appeared in consecutive NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. So in a way, they are an obvious candidate for an MJ-based Superteam.

On the other hand, they played in the Eastern Conference and — even in the moment — the Nets never really felt like legitimate title contenders. In fact, their very real proximity to the NBA title is exactly what makes them so little fun to imagine in this hypothetical situation. The Nets actually faced off with the Lakers and the Spurs and we all saw how it played out. Mutombo — the 12-year NBA vet of indeterminate age — was severely limited by injuries and the Nets couldn’t compete with Shaq or Duncan on the inside. Sub in a post-retirement Jordan for Kittles or Jefferson and you’re probably getting the same results.

Dec 22, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; A view of the Dallas Mavericks logo on the shorts of forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) during the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Center. The Hawks defeated the Mavericks 105-102. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

MJ might have been the difference for these teams

After all that, we’re left with two potential Superteams that would have had a legitimate chance at winning a title if they had added Jordan in 2001.

Dallas Mavericks

Best result: Lost Western Conference Finals (2003)
All-NBA selections: Dirk Nowitzki (2nd: 2002, 2003), Steve Nash (3rd: 2002, 2003)
All-Star selections: Dirk Nowitzki (2002, 2003), Steve Nash (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors: Michael Finley, Shawn Bradley
Other notable players: Nick Van Exel
Outlook: The Mavs reached the Western Conference Finals in 2003, which a cynical person might say qualifies them as the second-best team in the league that year. They pushed the Spurs to six games in the WCF and would likely have been favored to beat the Nets in a subsequent Finals matchup. Pairing the fun-loving All-NBA performers, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, with a cantankerous Jordan would have been so fantastic, so weird. Would MJ have dyed his hair blonde to fit in? Would he have let it grow long? A more serious question: the Mavs already had the league’s best offensive rating at about 111 points per 100 possessions in 2003, how many points would they have scored each night if they had added Jordan to the mix?

Jeez, on the other hand, how many points would they given up with a Nash-Dirk-old MJ combo in the starting lineup? That trio would have put a lot of pressure on Shawn Bradley to clean up their messes at the rim. By the way, the 7-6 Bradley gets a lot of flak for being a bust, but he actually had the league’s fifth lowest defensive rating that year; allowing a meager 95.8 points per 100 possessions that he was on the court. Plus it’s not like Michael Finley or Nick Van Exel — two guys who would have ceded minutes to Jordan — were lock-down defenders, anyways.

So, the defense might not have been great with Jordan, but it probably wouldn’t have been untenable, either. An alternative strategy would have left another plus-defender — Adrian Griffin — in the starting lineup, while deploying Jordan off the bench as a low minute/high usage change-of-pace sixth man a la Jordan Crawford. Either way, the Mavs would have checked a lot of boxes for the perfect MJ Superteam: MVP-caliber table-setting point guard, MVP-caliber big man, three-point shooting from multiple positions, and a rim protector. The Mavs — with Dirk constantly tugging at his jersey collar, Nash incessantly tucking his hair behind his ears, and Jordan sticking out his tongue left and right — could have been the perfect combination of eccentricities to form a championship-winning Superteam…or it could have gone horribly wrong, I’m not sure.

Sacramento Kings

Best result: Lost Western Conference Finals (2002)
All-NBA selections: Chris Webber (2nd: 2002, 2003)
All-Star selections: Chris Webber (2002, 2003), Peja Stojakovic (2002, 2003)
Other key contributors: Doug Christie, Vlade Divac
Other notable players: Mike Bibby, Hedo Turkoglu
Outlook: Like the Trail Blazers before them, the Kings pushed the Lakers to the brink of elimination in 2002, taking a 3-2 series lead before losing Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference Finals under dubious circumstances. This Sacramento team was pretty solid: an All-NBA power forward, Chris Webber, and a former All Star, Vlade Divac, holding it down inside; the capable Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson sharing time at point; and an All-Defensive Team honoree, Doug Christie, and sharp-shooters, Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu, patrolling the wings. Jordan could have mixed in with the wing trio of Doug-Peja-Hedo to add another dimension of scoring and some additional depth, perhaps featuring once again in a super-sub role.

Beyond his scoring prowess, though, any good NBA conspiracy theorist would recognize another advantage of adding Jordan to the Kings: he was the league’s most recognized star. Surely, a Kings Superteam featuring Jordan would have been immune to the type of foul imbalance that plagued them against the Lakers in the infamous WCF Game 6. I expect that a scowling Jordan would have been enough to tip the scales of star-friendly officiating away from Kobe and Shaq, back in the Kings’ favor. With a team that was already so close to ultimate victory, any small advantage that Jordan could have offered the Kings might have been enough to push them over the championship hump.

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What if Michael Jordan had joined a super-team instead of the Wizards?

By Todd Whitehead | Aug 18, 2016