Michael Jordan never played basketball.
Michael Jordan . His biography on the NBA website states : `` By acclamation , Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time . '' Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993 -- 94 NBA season to pursue a new venture in minor league baseball , he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996 , 1997 , and 1998 , as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995 -- 96 NBA season . Jordan 's individual accolades and accomplishments include five Most Valuable Player ( MVP ) Awards , ten All-NBA First Team designations , nine All-Defensive First Team honors , fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances , three All-Star Game MVP Awards , ten scoring titles , three steals titles , six NBA Finals MVP Awards , and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award .