Washington Wizards
The Legendary Michael Jordan started his affiliation with Washington Wizards on January 19, 2000 as part owner and President of Basketball Operations. During this year, he was tasked to take responsibility for all aspects of the team including personnel decisions. But this was not enough for Jordan.
He came back as a player on September 2, 2001, joining his new Washington Wizards Team, and donating his salary as a player to a relief effort for the victims of the 9-11 tragedy. In this season, he gave the team a good start. Unfortunately, a torn right cartilage ended his season after playing only 60 games.
The next year, Jordan played his 14th and final season still with the Washington Wizards. He became the only Washington player since 67 to play in all 82 games. And although he turned 40 during the season, he was still a great player, hugely contributing to the team’s score. He achieved another record by being the only 40 year-old to tally 43 points in an NBA game.
Although Jordan’s last two seasons did not even result to a playoff appearance for the Wizards, they were the still the most-watched team with all of the home games and most of the road games sold out.
His final NBA game on April 16, 2003 was not very climactic in terms of basketball technicalities. He scored only 13 points and even went to the bench on the 3rd quarter. What made the game memorable were the tributes given to Mike. He was brought out of the bench by a chanting from the crowd of “We want Mike”. He was also given a 3 minute standing ovation by his teammates, opponents, and a crowd of over 21,257 fans. Tribute was also paid to him in nearly every NBA arena. Michael Jordan, the legend, ended his career on 2003 with the Washington Wizards.