The NBA jersey advent calendar: 25 days of hoops history for the holidays

12. Michael Jordan — Chicago Bulls

You don’t have to wait for Christmas Eve Eve to pull Jordan’s number 23 Chicago Bulls jersey out from this calendar. This selection is a deep cut meant for hardcore hoop heads.

The look is the same, an elegant red jersey with black type trimmed with a clean white, but the player is hard to immediately identify. In fact, there’s not even a name on the back, just the number 12 and a great story.

On Valentine’s Day, 1990, the Bulls were set to play the Orlando Magic when Jordan’s regular number 23 jersey went missing from the locker room. According to Sam Smith, who covered the game for the Chicago Tribune, there was a search through the crowd for a number 23 red Bulls jersey that would fit Jordan. When none could be found, he took the court wearing a backup, no-name number 12 jersey the Bulls had lying around just in case.

If you were wondering whether Jordan’s basketball superpowers somehow derive from his number 23, they don’t. MJ dropped a game-high 49 points that night.

The Bulls lost the game in overtime though, so if you ever run into Jordan it might be best not to bring this up as a fun fact. You should, however, be safe relaying the story to anybody who asks about your seemingly-generic Chicago Bulls “Nobody” number 12.

Jordan’s pedigree as a player, ambassador for the game, the face of a brand, and biggest star basketball has ever seen certainly comes into play when selecting one of his jersey’s for this list. Choosing the one-off, no-name number 12 instead of his normal 23, or even his Dream Team No. 9 is strictly for the novelty. And maybe to save the No. 23 spot for another all-time great. You’ll just have to wait and see.

Honorable Mention: Fat Lever (Denver Nuggets), Chris Anderson (New Orleans Hornets), Otis Birdsong (Boston Celtics), Vlade Divac (Los Angeles Lakers)