Michael Jordan was alive in the 1980s and 90s.
Michael Jordan . Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s . In 1991 , he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls , and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993 , securing a `` three-peat '' . 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 . Jordan is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame , having been enshrined in 2009 for his individual career , and again in 2010 as part of the group induction of the 1992 United States men 's Olympic basketball team ( `` The Dream Team '' ) .