Michael Jordan may have believed he was done with basketball for myriad reasons. “I have nothing more to prove in basketball,” he said. But James Jordan’s murder made him look at the bigger picture. “It made me realize how short life is, how quickly things can end, how innocently,” MJ said. He realized he had put his family aside and wanted to make up for lost time. “I’ve been very selfish about centering things on my basketball career,” he explained.
Michael returned to basketball in March 1995, but he continued to mourn. “I think about him every day. I’m pretty sure I always will. Every day of my life,” Michael said in March 1996. Of all places, Michael found the strength to work through his grief from his father’s own teachings. “One of the things that [my dad] always taught me is that you have to take a negative and turn it into a positive, so I started looking to the other side of it, and that helped me get through it,” he said on Netflix’s 10-part documentary “The Last Dance.”
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Michael didn’t just lose a parent — he also lost a mentor. “We were very close. He constantly gave me advice,” he said. When he led the Bulls to yet another championship in 1996, Michael dedicated it to his father. “I know he’s watching … this is for daddy” he told the reporter after the game, pausing to fight back tears.
