Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry still has plenty left to give to the game of basketball, but that doesn’t mean he’s not looking forward to his future.

Curry has been planning for his retirement and a post-basketball future. On the CNBC special Curry Inc.: The Business of Stephen Curry airing on Wednesday night, Curry discusses his business interests away from the court. Curry also reveals how much he looks up to all-time great Michael Jordan off the court.

“He might be the only one in our generation who has sat in that seat and done it that way,” Curry said. “The idea of being a part of an ownership group and the right opportunity that allows me to have an impact on how a franchise should be operated.”

Jordan bought into the Charlotte Bobcats ownership group in 2006 and became the majority owner in 2010. He sold his controlling stake in 2023.

Curry has already invested in “Unrivaled,” a three-on-three women’s basketball league, and expressed interest in investing in a WNBA franchise.

Curry also expressed his interest in being in the media, hinting at a possible future in broadcasting. He even suggested a potential career in golf.

For now, Curry is still making an impact on the court for the Warriors. He averaged 24.5 points and six assists per game while helping lead the Warriors to the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Even as an All-Star, Curry has the foresight to look ahead to when his playing days are done.

Now a minority stakeholder, Michael Jordan sells his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets for approximately $3 billion in value.

Jordan bought his majority stake at $275 million back in 2010 and is now selling it to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. This ends Jordan’s 13-year run as the major stake owner of the franchise.

The former six-time NBA champion and five-time MVP has been the league’s only black majority owner, but will now be only a minority shareholder once the transaction is approved. Jordan will still continue to oversee basketball operations through Thursday’s NBA draft on June 22 and the start of free agency on July 1.

The new franchise’s governors have had prior experience with owning minor shares of this team or other teams, as Schnall is a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He is also the co-president at private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in New York, and was part of a group including majority owner Tony Ressler and Grant Hill, obtaining the Hawks in 2015 for $850 million.

Jordan sold a significant minority stake to Plotkin, founder and chief investment officer of Melvin Capital, and Daniel Sundheim, founder and CIO of D1 Capital, in 2020, and Sundheim is part of the group purchasing the Hornets, sources said.

The Hornets did not have a great season last year, as Charlotte went 27-55 in an injury-bugged year for their best players. However, the new majority owners will have a team that currently has a top-two pick in this year’s NBA Draft this Thursday night, which could be between Alabama forward Brandon Miller and G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson.

Los Angeles Laker superstar LeBron James may not be participating in the NBA Finals this year but he is still collecting accolades. The four-time NBA Champion has an evaluated net worth of one billion dollars.

According to Forbes, James has been one of the top-earning athletes in the world over the last few years. His $121.1 million earned in the last year was second only to Lionel Messi. This was based on his $44.5 million salaries and money earned with off-court brand deals, endorsements, as well as James’ other ventures. Here’s where else James makes his earnings.

Throughout his NBA career, the superstar has made a lot of money with his contracts. with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and Los Angles Lakers with his estimated earnings to be valued at north of $385 million.

James recently starred in the modern version of Space Jam bringing home a good amount from the box office after grossing $163 million worldwide. His production company SpringHill recently sold a minority stake at a $725 million valuation. The company also produces the hit interview show The Shop.

James also has made about $90 million from Fenway Sports group. He gained a 1% percent ownership in the group after exchanging his minority ownership of Liverpool FC. Fenway Sports Group owns Liverpool, Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox, and just purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins.

His real estate holding is also estimated to be about $80 million in total value. The Akron, Ohio native purchased a $10 million mansion in the Akron area, plus two homes in Los Angeles for about $59.75 million.

Investments within the food and beverage industry have also Brough James a good amount of cash. His 10% ownership stake in Blaze Pizza which he bought in 2012 for less than $1 million is now valued at $30 million.

With this milestone, James has become the first active NBA player to be worth $1 billion. Only two other former NBA players have reached the milestone, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

The 2022 NBA-Star Game was more special than most: The league celebrated its 75th anniversary as well as the 75 best players to ever lace up the high tops.

One moment stood out from all the many other wonderful moments and seemed to make the league come full circle.

Ever since he was a teenager, LeBron James has been compared—perhaps unfairly—to Michael Jordan. The pair is constantly the main argument in the oft-contentious, impossible-to-win debate of who the greatest basketball player ever is. And, on Sunday night, the two embraced for a rare emotional scene.

Jordan could be seen asking his generational counterpart, “Hanging in there?”

The two shared a hug, the rest of their conversation was muffled, and “MJ” could be heard leaving “Bron” with the message, “You’re gonna do it, you’re gonna do it. Good luck.”

This is as close to we’re going to get with regards to the two settling things on a basketball court, but it was as wholesome as it gets.

Once the closest of teammates and friends, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen currently are not on the best terms.

Jordan and Pippen, 58 and 56, respectively, of course, won six titles together on the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, but apparently, they may never speak again. That’s coming from fellow NBA legend Charles Oakley during a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast.

“No, I think [Jordan and Pippen’s relationship] is over … It wasn’t great from the get-go,” the 58-year-old Knicks legend said.

Oakley and Jordan played together for three seasons in Chicago and remain close friends. The former was traded to the Knicks in 1988 and also was teammates with Pippen for a season.

“I think [Pippen] feels like they didn’t present him more in The Last Dance,” Oakley said. “I think they did Dennis Rodman more than Scottie and Steve Kerr.

“But my thing to that is, Kerr did way more off the court than Scottie. Dennis probably has, too. But on that court, Scottie did a lot more than both of them, but Scottie felt like he was left out of there. And he felt like Jordan wouldn’t have six rings if it wasn’t for him.”

Pippen’s animosity for The Last Dance documentary is well-documented; he felt the documentary—a 10-part docuseries chronicling the 1990s Chicago Bulls—made him come off as “underpaid and frustrated.”

“I don’t think it was that accurate in terms of really defining what was accomplished in one of the greatest eras of basketball, but also by two of the greatest players – and one could even put that aside and say the greatest team of all time,” Pippen is on record as saying of the doc. “I didn’t think those things stood out in the documentary.

“I thought it was more about Michael trying to uplift himself and to be glorified [the series was co-produced by Jordan’s Jump 23 company]. I think it also backfired to some degree in that people got a chance to see what kind of personality Michael had.”

A ticket stub from an October 1984 NBA game just sold for a record $264,000. Normally that would be outrageous, but the stub just so happens to be from a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Bullets during which Michael Jordan made his NBA debut.

ESPN’s Dan Hajducky reported that the stub, which was graded a 6-out-of-10, shattered the previous record of $175,000 for a sports ticket – Game 3 of the 1903 World Series between the Boston Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jordan tallied 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting, seven assists, six rebounds, four blocks, and two steals in 40 minutes in the game, a 109-93 Bulls win.

His Airness, of course, would keep winning a tradition during his tenure in Chicago.

A pair of Michael Jordan’s earliest known regular season game-worn Nike shoes have sold at the Sotheby’s Icons of Excellence and Haute Luxury auction in Las Vegas on Sunday for $1.47 million, breaking the record for the highest price achieved for a pair of sneakers sold at auction.

Selling to Nick Fiorella, a famous card collector, the retro white high-tops with hits of red were worn during Jordan’s 5th NBA game in his rookie season in 1984, making them the earliest regular-season pair from his NBA career to be auctioned off.

However, the Jordans aren’t the most expensive sneakers ever sold. In April, the company Rares bought a $1.8 million pair of Kanye West’s Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers in a Sotheby’s private sale, making them the most expensive known pair of shoes ever sold. Rares is one of the dozens of similar companies that have sprung up in recent years coming from the internet subculture known as “hype beasts,” all of which offer shares in luxury goods, artworks and collectibles. Rares didn’t bid on the Jordan sneakers, a spokesperson said.

The Jordan Brand continues to bring Nike billions of dollars each year. Limited releases, different store exclusives and vintage hard-to-get Jordan sneakers has led to the creation of websites such as StockX and Goat where these sought-out shoes are being sold for tens of thousands of dollars a pair every day.

The Packers are close to getting their star quarterback Aaron Rodgers back, even if he stays with the team for just one more season.

The news comes just after Rodgers and fellow teammate Davante Adams posted photos mimicking The Last Dance with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that this reunion between the two football players will in fact be similar to Jordan and Pippen, as it will be their final season teaming up together.

While the Packers’ CEO Mark Murphy reportedly has told shareholders that Rodgers will be with the team well beyond the 2021 season, Schefter is stating that this will most likely be his final run with Green Bay. Interestingly, Murphy did not tell reporters whether or not he expects Rodgers to report to training camp with other Packer veterans.

Whether Rodgers will actually suit up for the Packers requires patience and waiting to see if he shows up to training camp.

Chris Paul shined in his NBA Finals debut by making history in the Suns’ Game 1 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Paul became the third player in NBA history 36 years old or older to score 30+ points. The point guard joins Tim Duncan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Paul scored 32 points and dished out nine assists to lead the Phoenix to their first NBA Finals victory since 1993. He also became the first person to have 30 points and eight assists in a final since Michael Jordan in 1991.

The Bucks were unable to defend Paul’s pick-and-rolls all night long. The Suns exploited Bucks center, Brook Lopez, by forcing him to switch onto Paul. Lopez was unable to guard Paul as he continuously torched him from the mid-range. Paul also lobbed it to DeAndre Ayton for alley-oops after Ayton would set a screen. Phoenix also exploited Milwaukee’s double-teams on Devin Booker. Whenever Booker was double-teamed by the Bucks, he passed it to open teammates for easy three-point shots. Lopez was the main target on the pick-and-rolls and was eventually benched in the third quarter. He did not return.

This continuous exploitation of the Bucks’ defense allowed the Suns to run away with the lead in the third quarter, increasing the lead to 20 points. Milwaukee attempted a fourth-quarter comeback that brought them to within seven, but it wasn’t enough. Phoenix held on for a 118-105 Game 1 victory.

Milwaukee’s star Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a knee injury despite being listed as doubtful earlier in the day. Antetokounmpo scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds while fellow All-Star and teammate Khris Middleton scored 29 points. Antetokounmpo played noticeably slower and was not himself. The Bucks need him to be 100 percent healthy if they want any shot at winning the title. Milwaukee will also have to revise its plan on defense to counter Phoenix’s offense.

Although Paul led the Suns, Ayton and Booker played brilliantly as well. Ayton finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds while Booker added 27 points.

The Suns are now three wins away from winning their first NBA title. Game 2 will be played on Thursday.

On January 26 of last year, the basketball community was burdened with one of the biggest tragedies in recent memory. Kobe Bryant, and 13 year old daughter Giana Bryant, along with six others, perished in a helicopter crash in California. Bryant was an all time Los Angeles Lakers great. He led the team to five championships, with countless personal accolades along the way, including an MVP and multiple scoring titles. Bryant was known for his competitive spirit, something he got from the great Michael Jordan. This Saturday completes Bryant’s journey to basketball immortality, as he’ll be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in what is quite possibly the best class of all time. Included in the class are power forwards Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, both champions in their own right. The aforementioned Jordan is set to induct Bryant, and recently this past week Jordan revealed his last texts with the Lakers swing man.

“This tequila is awesome,” wrote Bryant.

Bryant’s text was in reference to Jordan’s Cincoro Tequila, a bottle of which was sent to Bryant at the launch.

“Thank you, my brother,” Jordan responded.

“Yes, sir. Family good?” Kobe replied.

All good. Yours?”

“All good.”

Jordan wanted to talk to Bryant about his daughter’s basketball team—which he was coaching. “He was really into coaching Gigi,” Jordan said, “so I hit him up about that.”

“I added that little crying/laughing emoji,” Jordan chuckles.

“Ah, back at you, man,” Kobe wrote. “Hey, coach, I’m sitting on the bench right now, and we’re blowing this team out. 45-8.” …

“I just love that text,” Jordan says, “because it shows Kobe’s competitive nature.”

Emotions will almost certainly run high on Saturday, even for someone as stoic and cold natured as Jordan. When asked about the speech, he told ESPN, “I was thinking, at first, I might be a little somewhat nervous about it, but then I realized I’m not going to be nervous about showing emotions for someone I absolutely loved,” “That’s the humanistic side of me—people tend to forget I do have one.”

Bryant will be enshrined on ESPN, at 5:30 PM ET.

On Thursday, The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced its honorees for the 2020 Hall of Fame inductees.

Among the presenters, Michael Jordan is the biggest name, and he will be honoring the late Kobe Bryant by announcing his induction to the Hall of Fame.

In early 2020, Bryant passed away in a fatal helicopter crash. During his memorial service, Jordan spoke about the Lakers’ legend. “Kobe was my dear friend, he was like a little brother,” Jordan said. “When Kobe died, a little piece of me died. This kid had passion as you would never know, as I got to know him, I wanted to be the best big brother that I could be.”

Growing up, Bryant idolized the Chicago Bulls legend and sought to emulate Jordan’s game. Once Bryant made it to the NBA, he dedicated his early career to learning from Jordan on and off the court. At first, MJ was irked about Bryant’s constant questioning, but it soon faded as a bond was formed between them. “At first, it was an aggravation,” Jordan said. “Then it became a passion.”

The two formed a sibling bond. “He was really like a big brother, and whether it’s because we similarly see things in terms of our competitive spirit or fire or whatever the case may be, there’s an understanding that we have a connection that we have,” Bryant once said of Jordan.

Jordan will be the only Hall of Famer to be presenting multiple people in the ceremony. The Chicago legend will also be presenting women’s coach Kim Mulkey in the Hall of Fame ceremony.

The other inductees and their presenters are the following:

• Patrick Baumann, presented by Russ Granik and Vlade Divac  
• Tamika Catchings, presented by Alonzo Mourning and Dawn Staley 
• Tim Duncan, presented by David Robinson 
• Kevin Garnett, presented by Isiah Thomas
• Barbara Stevens, presented by Geno Auriemma and Muffet McGraw 
• Eddie Sutton, presented by John Calipari, Bill Self and Sidney Moncrief
• Rudy Tomjanovich, presented by Calvin Murphy and Hakeem Olajuwon 

After a long career filled with accomplishments and awards, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams is retiring.

Williams is leaving as one of the most accomplished college basketball coaches of all time. Williams is a future Hall of Famer with 900 wins under his belt and three national championships.

Williams announced his retirement on Thursday and had a press conference to discuss his decision. “It has been a thrill. It has been unbelievable. I’ve loved it,” Williams said. “It’s coaching, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since the summer after my ninth-grade year of high school.” “No one has ever enjoyed coaching like I have for 48 years.”

Williams began his storied coaching career as an assistant coach for North Carolina from 1978-1988. As an assistant coach, he had the opportunity to coach Michael Jordan, who played for the Tar Heels in college. In 1982, Jordan helped the Tar Heels win a national championship; it was Williams’ first national title.

After 10 seasons with North Carolina, Williams left to become the head coach for Kansas. The head coach spent 15 seasons with Kansas and led them to nine regular-season conference titles, and 14 NCAA tournaments. Kansas advanced to the final four on four occasions and two national title games.

“Roy Williams has been an icon in our industry for the last 33 years, and his retirement is very well deserved,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said in a statement. “Roy won at the highest level and projected first-class while doing so.”

In 2003, Williams returned to North Carolina and became their new head coach. The coach had unprecedented success for North Carolina that included national championships. In just his second season as head coach, he won his first national title as a head coach. In 2009, he coached the Tar Heels to another title for his second national title. In 2017, North Carolina won their third title under Williams.

“The countless lives he positively affected surpasses all of the individual honors and awards,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “Roy’s fingerprints will forever be on the sport of college basketball, and specifically the Atlantic Coast Conference. We wish him, Wanda, and his entire family all the best as he begins this next chapter of an amazing life.”

Williams finishes his coaching career with a 903-264 record. Williams ranks fourth in all-time wins among Division I coaches. In addition, he holds the NCAA record for being the only coach to record 400+ wins with two different schools.

Dapper Labs, the startup company behind the NFT trading-card platform NBA Top Shot, has received $305 million in private funding to expand its business. The money comes from donations from current and present NBA stars.

The latest donations are from Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson. Other recent donators are Ashton Kutcher‘s Sound Ventures, Will Smith‘s Dreamers VC, rapper 2 Chainz, and The Chernin Group. The recent funding has risen Dapper Lab’s value to $2.6 billion.

NBA Top Shot has seen a boom in popularity and funding from private investors.

“We want to bring the same magic to other sports leagues as well as help other entertainment studios and independent creators find their own approaches in exploring open platforms,” Dapper Labs said in a statement.

NBA Top Shot was developed in partnership with the NBA. It provides users with an online forum where they are able to own and trade virtual basketball cards but in the form of video clips and highlights called “highlights.” The idea was unique because it is unheard of trading cards that are video clips, it has usually been player cards that are traded.

The uniqueness of Top Shot has attracted a large player base. Less than five months into beta testing, the platform now has more than 800,000 registered users. As of March 17, more than $370 million had exchanged hands between users on Top Shot. The amount does not include the amount spent by players on packs.

Dapper Labs is hoping that the recent funding it will allow the company to expand to other sports leagues.

In the 2020 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets selected LaMelo Ball to be their next franchise player.

When the Hornets drafted Ball to the team, it was with the intention to be their future star player. It was a pick that fans wanted to see happen. Now with fans happy about the draft choice, it has not only given them a good outlook of the future but something else – a potential dream matchup between Ball’s father LaVar Ball and Hornets team owner Michael Jordan.

The matchup stems from a 2017 comment made by the older Ball that he would beat Jordan in a one-on-one match. Jordan responded to those claims made by Ball by promptly dismissing the comments.  “He averaged 2.2 points per game,” Jordan said. Really? It doesn’t dignify an answer, but I’m going to give it to you because you asked the question. I don’t think he could beat me if I was one-legged.”

With the younger Ball drafted by the Hornets, the older Ball took the moment to reignite his claims of beating Jordan. Ball said on the Club Shay Shay podcast that “If you are waiting for it, hear them get in touch with pay-per-view because me and Mike ain’t playing for less than $200 million. That’s what we say if you’re going to watch Mike Tyson fight at 50, you’re gonna watch me and MJ play just one-on-one for pay-per-view only—and it better be over $200 million.”

Michael Jordan and LeBron James have helped in getting Florida felons the right to vote in the presidential election

Both James and Jordan joined in to help Michael Bloomberg‘s $27 million effort to help pay off the fees and fines that allowed felons to vote in Tuesdays presidential election in Florida. It is not known how much the two basketball stars have contributed toward the effort. However, they both join in the list of celebrities that are helping Bloomberg to pay off the fines and fees.

Back in 2018, a total of 1.4 million Floridians had their right to vote restored thanks to Amendment 4, which allowed convicted felons who served their time except for murderers and sexual abusers to vote.

However, last year Republican state lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) passed a law that required ex-felons to pay court fees and fines before they could vote, which has been viewed by many as a poll tax. This law was originally found to be unconstitutional back in May, but an appeals court overturned the ruling. The conservative judges on the court were appointed by President Donald Trump.

Seventy-five percent of ex-felons in Florida owe fees and fines, but 70 percent of them are unable to pay those fines and fees. There is no central database that keeps records of payments or of the fines that are owed, make them very difficult to pay.

To combat this, Bloomberg and other groups are working to pay off the fines to enable the ex-felons to gain back their right to vote. NBA team Miami Heat has donated a total of $40,000 to help with the fees. James has committed $100,000 to help.

The help has enabled 32 percent of ex-felons in Florida to register to vote so far.

Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player to ever live. He might also be the best fisherman in NBA history as while competing in The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, Jordan and his team reeled in a fish that weighed in at over 400 pounds.

On Tuesday, Jordan’s team caught a blue marlin that weighed in at 442 pounds, the sixth heaviest of the tournament as of Tuesday evening. When asked about the fish, Jordan said, “I would love to be back with a little bit bigger fish.”

https://www.facebook.com/thebigrocktournament/photos/pcb.10157663155259565/10157663154889565/?type=3&theater

Tournament executive director Crystal Hesmer said, “Oh, my gosh, for Michael Jordan to be in our same air space is exciting and thrilling enough, but for him to land a fish at our tournament and bring it in is thrilling for the entire town. It’s unbelievable that he’s here in our little town.”

The tournament will continue through Saturday which means Jordan still has a shot to win it all. 

Numerous athletes and celebrities across the country and the world have commented on the murder of George Floyd last week. Over the weekend, Michael Jordan expressed his thoughts on Floyd’s death. 

Jordan, someone who doesn’t typically speak on social issues, issued a statement on Sunday expressing his feelings. “I am deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry. … I stand with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We have had enough,” he said.

The statement comes on the heels of protests that took place across the United States. Jordan went on to say that it is on Americans to unite as one collective group and listen to each other during these times. “I don’t have the answers, but our collective voices show strength and the inability to be divided by others,” he said. “We must listen to each other, show compassion and empathy and never turn our backs on senseless brutality. We need to continue peaceful expressions against injustice and demand accountability. Our unified voice needs to put pressure on our leaders to change our laws, or else we need to use our vote to create systemic change. Every one of us needs to be part of the solution, and we must work together to ensure justice for all.”

Many NBA players, coaches and executives issued statements on social media regarding the protests this weekend.

SLIDESHOW: 50 GREAT SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019

A couple of weeks ago, in the absence of basketball games, ESPN ranked the top-74 players in the NBA’s history (74 because this season was the NBA’s 74th anniversary). On May13, ESPN released their top-10 players of all-time. You probably can guess who the top-10 were but here it is:

1. Michael Jordan
2. LeBron James
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Bill Russell
5. Magic Johnson
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Larry Bird
8. Tim Duncan
9. Kobe Bryant
10. Shaquille O’Neal

Personally, I have some issues with the list. I think some guys should be higher while others are lower, but I will give my personal list later. Looking at the list however, here is why each guy has a case to be considered one of the ten best players in NBA history:

• Jordan:
  • Career Stats: 30.1 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 5.3 assists per game, 2.3 steals per game. 
  • Notable Accolades: 6-time NBA Champion, 6-time Finals MVP, 5-time Regular Season MVP, 1988 Defensive Player of the Year, 10-time scoring champion, 14-time All-Star, Member of NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team.
  • Jordan is one of the best to ever step on an NBA court, if you are watching The Last Dance, you would know how much Jordan was idolized around the world and how much respect his competitors had for him. In the 90s, everyone wanted to take on the Bulls and beat Jordan, but none of them could.
• James:
  • Career Stats (at least as of right now): 27.1 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game, 7.4 assists per game, 1.6 steals per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 3-time NBA Champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 4-time League MVP, 16-time All Star, 3-time All Star Game MVP 12-time First team All NBA. 
  • The guy is the best player of this generation, he is a physical freak of nature, has had numerous moments during his career that can be considered iconic. The longevity of his success can arguably be the most impressive pair of his entire career.
• Abdul-Jabbar:
  • Career Stats: 24.6 points per game, 11.2 rebounds per game, 3.6 assists per game, 2.6 blocks per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 6-time NBA Champion, 2-time Finals MVP, 6-time League MVP, 19-time All Star, 10-time All NBA First Team, Member of NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team.
  • Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all time leader in points scored with 38,387 career points. He had one of the most unstoppable moves in league history with the skyhook. I mentioned his list of his achievements but the guy truly did it all, more MVPs than any other player, more All Star game appearances than any other player. The fact that he was so good and so dominant for so long is what is really impressive.
• Russell:
  • Career Stats: 15.1 points per game, 22.5 rebounds per game, 4.3 assists per game. 
  • Notable Accolades: 11-time NBA Champion, 5-time League MVP, 12-time All Star, Member of NBA’s. 25th, 35th, and 50th Anniversary Teams.
  • Despite not having the same accolades as the three guys ahead of him, that is partially because those things did not exist. There was not such a thing as a Finals MVP until his final championship in 1969, which went to Jerry West. They named the Finals MVP after Russell who is considered the ultimate winner in basketball history with 11 championships in 13 seasons. Blocks was not a stat during Russell’s career, but he was a prolific shot blocker if you watch the footage.
• Johnson:
  • Career Stats: 19.5 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game, 11.2 assists per game, 1.9 steals per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 5-time NBA Champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 3-time League MVP, 12-time All Star, 2-time All Star Game MVP, 9-time All NBA First Team, Member of NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team.
  • I mean when your nickname is ‘Magic,’ that means you are something special and that’s what Johnson was. The orchestrator of the Showtime Lakers, he was a wizard with the basketball in his hands, revolutionized the game with his size being a 6′ 9” point guard but had skills no one had ever seen before. He was the face of the NBA in the 80s, some say it was Bird, others Jordan, but I personally think it is without question Johnson.
• Chamberlain: 
  • Career Stats: 30.1 points per game, 22.9 rebounds per game, 4.9 assists per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 2-time NBA Champion, 1-time Finals MVP,  4-time League MVP, 13-time All Star, 7-time First Team All NBA, 7-time scoring champion, 11-time rebounding champion. Member of NBA’s 35th and 50th Anniversary Team.
  • Chamberlain is the only player to score 100 points in a game, he averaged 50 points in a season, a truly dominant player. My one issue with ‘The Big Dipper,’ is that was this dominance more so of a byproduct with the era he played in. Sure there was Russell, but that is really it for centers in that era who posed any real challenge to Chamberlain. Who knows, maybe that’s just how dominant he really was that only one guy in the whole NBA stood a chance against him.
• Bird:
  • Career Stats: 24.3 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game, 6.3 assists per game, 1.7 steals per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 3-time NBA Champion, 2-time Finals MVP, 3-time League MVP, 12-time All Star, 9-time All NBA First Team, Member of NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team.
  • Bird’s career was going to be compared to that of Magic Johnson’s the moment the two were drafted into the NBA, and neither balked at the challenge. Bird is one of the best shooters in league history, as an extremely smooth jumper, and I think he is one of those guys who can thrive in almost any era, which you can’t say about some guys on this list. 
• Duncan:
  • Career Stats: 19 points per game, 10.8 rebounds per game, 3 assists per game, 2.2 blocks per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 5-time NBA Champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 2-time League MVP, 15-time All Star, 10-time First Team All NBA, 8-time First Team All Defense.
  • The guy lived up to his nickname as ‘The Big Fundamental’ as he was not a guy who would wow you with his flashiness or was a big personality. He just went out onto the court, knew what his job was and more often than not, did it. When the game was on the line, he would show up and execute. One of the best winners in league history as he has the most wins in the regular season for a player who played for one team with 1,001.
• Bryant:
  • Career Stats: 25.0 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, 4.7 assists per game, 1.4 steals per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 5-time NBA Champion, 2-time Finals MVP, 1-time League MVP, 18-time All Star, 4-time All Star Game MVP, 11-time First Team All NBA, 9-time First Team All Defense. 
  • It is unfortunate that Bryant’s life got cut tragically short and he will be unable to attend his Hall Of Fame induction. The guy was the ultimate competitor, the ‘Mamba Mentality’ became something that players feared. Second most points in a single game in NBA history with 81. In his final game, he scored 60 points. He was the closest thing to Jordan we have ever seen. A legend that died too young.
• O’Neal:
  • Career Stats: 23.7 points per game, 10.9 rebounds per game, 2.3 blocks per game.
  • Notable Accolades: 4-time NBA Champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 1-time League MVP, 15-time All Star, 3-time All Star Game MVP, 8-time First Team All NBA, Member of NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team.
  • The most dominant player in NBA history, without question. Compared to Russell, Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar, O’Neal would probably beat all of them. He changed how the NBA was played because of how good he was, had multiple rules changed because of some of the things he would do on the basketball court. The guy had an electric personality and that showed in his many nicknames and that translated to his play on the court.

As promised, I said I would give my top 10 list for the ten greatest players in NBA history. This is strictly my opinion, but here is how I thought ESPN should have done their rankings.

1. Jordan
2. James
3. Johnson
4. Abdul-Jabbar
5. O’Neal
6. Duncan
7. Bryant
8. Bird
9. Chamberlain
10. Russell

Let me know your list of the top-10 NBA players of all time on social media, @usports on Twitter and Instagram

Following the finale of The Last Dance Sunday night, one question still remains, had Jerry Krause not been given his way and if everyone from the 1997-1998 team came back, would the Chicago Bulls win the championship in 1999, their fourth straight and seventh in nine years. That finals was originally won by the San Antonio Spurs, but one would have to think that if the Bulls were to come back once again, with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Phil Jackson and the rest of the team would give it a good run.

Writers at Azcentral, broke down the Bulls chances of winning their seventh championship, citing various reasons as to why the Bulls would not win the title despite everyone from 1998 coming back.

The first point they made was that Pippen needed to get paid as well as other guys on the team. In 1997-1998, other than Jordan, no player on the Bulls was paid more than $4 million by the team, with Pippen making under $3 millon and was the sixth highest paid player. In the documentary, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf called it “suicidal” to sign guys like Pippen to a long-term contract following that final season, as the returns would get less and less each year of the contract as the guy got older. Jordan said that if he and Jackson agreed to come back for 1999, then everyone else would have signed a one-year contract to go for the four-peat, including Pippen. There is no guarantee however that that would be the case as Pippen, despite being a perennial all star up to that point and being named to the NBA’s 50-greatest players list was severely underpaid and wanted to finally get what he deserved. Pippen would go on to be traded to the Houston Rockets prior to the 1999 season where he signed a five-year, $67.2 million contract.

The second point that was made was that a lot of the Bulls’ core was getting up there in age. In 1997-1998, of the 17 guys that made up the Bulls roster, the team had an average age of about 29.5, and 11 guys who were 29 or older, seven who were 32 or older. Given the advanced age of the Bulls roster and the fact that the Bulls had been to three straight championships prior to 1999, exhaustion would be a definite factor in the Bulls not winning a fourth straight title. The one thing working in favor of the Bulls is that 1999 was a lockout shortened season, so the team would  have gotten an extended offseason, but the grind of winning three straight championships took a toll. That is evident by Jordan retiring following the Bulls first three-peat.

The third reason was that there were a lot of teams on the rise. I will talk more about the Spurs in a moment as they won the title, but you had the Lakers with Shaquille O’Neal and a young Kobe Bryant, the Utah Jazz returned the majority of their core with Karl Malone, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a young Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury and to round out the notable Western Conference teams, you had the Houston Rockets, who despite not having Pippen in this alternate reality, they still had Charles Bakrley and Hakeem Olajuwon. All those teams played the Bulls twice a year during a regular NBA season, so in a lockout shortened year it would be less, but all of them would give the Bulls trouble. In the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat were the number one team in the conference with Alonzo Mourning, Dan Majerle, and Tim Hardaway. They were upset in the first round by the New York Knicks who made it to the NBA Finals and had Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and Latrell Sprewell, to name a few. The 76ers had a young Allen Iverson, the Orlando Magic still had Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Horace Grant, other young stars in the conference included Grant Hill with the Pistons, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady in Toronto. Then there is the Indiana Pacers, the team that took the Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1998, who still had Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Jalen Rose, Mark Jackson and Chris Mullin, among others. Overall, it would have been a tough road for the Bulls to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy once again.

The final point is that that if the Bulls did make it to the finals and took on the Spurs, there would be no way the Bulls would stop them. In the previous two finals, the Bulls struggled at times guarding Malone and that was mentioned in The Last Dance, so the fact that the Spurs had two elite big men in David Robinson and Tim Duncan,  they would have given the Bulls fits and ultimately led to Jordan losing for the first time in the finals as the Bulls simply did not have the firepower upfront to combat both of those guys.

Now, I will say, had the Bulls core came back for one more title run, they would be a force to be reckoned with, but it would have been a challenging road.

SLIDESHOW: 50 GREAT SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019

Scottie Pippen was arguably the most important piece behind Michael Jordan during the Chicago Bulls’ six championship victories. In ESPN’s The Last Dance, Pippen was talked about a fair amount and rightfully so, but when asked about his portrayal in the docu-series, Pippen said he was not pleased with how he was depicted in such a negative light.

One episode in the 10-part documentary looked into Pippen’s contract dispute with the Bulls general manager Jerry Krause and how Pippen elected to hold off on getting foot surgery as a means to get the Bulls to pay the disgruntled star. This led in Pippen not playing a game for the Bulls during the 1997-1998 season until January. To be fair, Pippen was egregiously underpaid for what he did for the Bulls and one can blame both Krause and Bulls’ owner Jerry Reinsdorf for opting to not pay their star, but you can also blame Pippen for taking such a bad contract in the early 90s. For this dispute, Jordan called Pippen selfish for putting himself ahead of the team. At another point in the series, it talked about how Pippen refused to play in the final seconds in a playoff game against the Knicks in 1994 because the play to win the game was drawn up for Toni Kukoč instead of Pippen. This was the first season without Jordan for the Bulls and, although they won the game, it created a rift among the team and had many questioning if Pippen would have done that if Jordan was around.

According to David Kaplan, who is a popular sports radio personality in Chicago, Pippen is “so angry” and “beyond livid” at Jordan for how he was painted in the series. 

During a recent roundtable with former Bulls’ teammates, Horace Grant, Craig Hodges and Bill Cartwright, Hodges spoke about how Pippen was not at all a selfish player, despite how he was depicted during the documentary. “I didn’t like how he was portrayed and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it and I’m still trying to figure that out,” Hodges said. “Without Scottie, MJ would not have won. It’s like all the brothers sitting here. It’s almost like MJ won in a vacuum and it wasn’t anything like that.” 

Grant echoed that same sentiment. “It was straight-up bulls–t how they portrayed Scottie,” he said. “First off, being the No. 2 on that team and how he came out in terms of against Utah could barely walk, setting screens, getting knocked on the floor, the whole nine yards, and for them, that documentary, to call him… well, MJ called him selfish, that’s some BS. That’s straight up BS. If it wasn’t for Scottie Pippen, there would be no six championships. I’m telling you right now guys. The first championship I think MJ got in foul trouble against the Lakers and who came to the rescue? No. 33. Scottie Pippen. Scottie Pippen. Yes, he made a mistake. We addressed that after the game. And then it was over with and we took the Knicks to seven games. My question is: How in the hell did that get on this documentary when MJ’s ass wasn’t even on the team?”

Grant was also not happy with Jordan for how he was portrayed in the documentary. The series suggested that Grant was the member of the Bulls team who gave details for Sam Smith‘s book, The Jordan Rules. 

For his career with the Bulls, Pippen averaged 17.7 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, 5.3 assists per game, and 2.1 steals per game and was a 7-time all start in 12 seasons.

SLIDESHOW: 50 GREAT SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019