Michael Jordan is highly revered amongst the NBA as the best player to ever step on the court. As an owner, MJ has left a lot to be desired but that doesn't mean he is without power. Recently, the NBA has been hard at work to come up with a return to play format for the NBA season and in a recent interview with TNT, Adam Silver revealed that Michael Jordan was extremely influential.
After reports of a group stage and round-robin tournament surfaced, MJ reportedly told other owners that the return to play shouldn't feel like a gimmick and that they needed something closer to what we had before the pandemic. As Silver notes, Jordan is the most respected man when it comes to these discussions.
Per Adam Silver:
“This was a point made by Michael Jordan whose team the Charlotte Hornets are not one of the 22 teams. But clearly he’s the most respected voice in the room when it comes to basketball. He felt that it was very important that after we establish the 16 teams, we’d not be gimmicky. Because there were a lot of proposals on the table to do unique tournaments and pool play like you see in international competition. And we took those proposals very seriously."
While Jordan's Hornets won't be participating in a return to action, there is no denying his influence has been felt around the league.