Jordan Played Very Well During His Two Years With the Washington Wizards

Published on June 17th, 2024 7:52 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


For some strange reason, many people want to put down Michael Jordan's time with the Washington Wizards.

If you hear some people tell the story, you'd think that Jordan was a complete embarassment while playing for the Wizards.

The truth, however, is much different, and Jordan was actually MUCH better than people think.

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Let's start here - after THREE full seasons off from the NBA, Michael Jordan decided to play for the Washington Wizards in the 2001-02 season.

At the age of 38, and after missing three full seasons, Jordan averaged 22.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists.

Jordan made the All-Star game and finished 13th in MVP voting, as the Wizards finished 37-45.

After getting off to a shaky start (including a long 8 game losing streak at the start of the season), the Wizards got things together and looked to be poised for a playoff spot. The Wizards enjoyed a nine game, five game and four game winning streak over the course of the season, only to have the wheels fall off when Michael Jordan got injured.

Jordan would return at the end of the season, but his minutes were limited.

In just his second game back following a three year absence, Jordan scored 31 points against the Atlanta Hawks.

In his fifth and sixth games of the season, Jordan scored 32 points in both games.

On November 16th, 2001, Jordan went off against the Utah Jazz, scoring 44 points on 17-33 shooting.

Just before the end of the year in 2001, Jordan put up 51 points against the Charlotte Hornets, and then 45 points against the New Jersey Jets just two nights later.

In late January of 2002, Jordan put up back-to-back 40 point nights.

In his second to last game before suffering an injury, Jordan put up 37 points against the Miami Heat.

Returning to the team late in the season on reduced minutes resulted in Jordan's numbers dropping off. At one point in the season, Jordan was averaging 27.5 points per game.

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In his final season in the NBA (2002-03), Jordan played the full 82 games at the age of 39, and averaged 20.0 points per game, along with 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

It's important to note that Jordan started the year on reduced minutes before starting to turn things up in January.

In February of 2003, Jordan had two 40+ point games (including a 45 point game against New Orleans) and a 35 point game against Houston.

In his final eight games in the NBA, Jordan put up 22, 25, 26, 21, 25, 17, 21 and 15 points.

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The Washington Wizards were very bad, especially in Jordan's final year with the team.

This helped to tarnished Jordan's time with the team.

The fact of the matter, however, is that Jordan was still a top player during his time with the Wizards, especially in his first season with the team, as he was averaging nearly 30 points per game at one point of the season.

When he returned to the NBA, it was like MJ hadn't missed a beat, as he was right back to scoring 30 points in a game almost right away.

I have a hard time imagining any other player returning in their late 30s after three years off from the game and having the same sort of impact.