Michael Jordan is a former American basketball player as well as a businessman. As a chairman of basketball team, he owns Charlotte Hornets. He played 15 seasons for Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls in NBA. In 1984, he was enrolled in the team of Chicago Bulls and soon after became a league star. He was known by the name of ‘Air Jordan’ thanks to his extraordinary ability to leap in performing slam dunks from free throw line. He is also credited for being one of the best defensive basketball players. Michael won the first NBA championship for the Bulls in 1991 followed by another two years consecutively. Thus, he earned the ‘three-peat’. He led his team to three championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. At 1995-96 NBA season, he held the record of winning 72 regular seasons. Let’s dive down more in Michael Jordan facts for kids!
By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.
Fascinating Michael Jordan Facts for Kids
- He was born on 17 February 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. During his years as a toddler, the entire family was shifted to Wilmington, North Carolina.
- In Grade 10 in the Emsley Laney High School, he couldn’t play for the university basketball team because his height was only 1.80 metres at the time. His only friend who was selected for the team was Harvest Leroy Smith.
- At the junior varsity squad of high school, Jordan worked hard and proved himself to be a star player.
- He grew four inches in the following summer and took hard training. In his last two seasons, he earned 20 points per game (ppg) on average.
- After earning an average of triple-double, he secured the place in McDonald’s All-American Team.
- In the team of Dean Smith, he gained an average 13.4 points per game (53.4 percent shooting) and honored with ACC Freshman of the Year
- During 1982 NCAA Championship game, Jordan made a winning jump shot against Georgetown. Jordan described this shot as the main turning point in his basketball career.
- His average on three seasons he played at North Carolina was 17.7 ppg with 54 percent shooting. He also had 5.0 rebounds per game (rpg).
- In his first season in NBA, he had an average 28.2 ppg (51.5 percent shooting) and became a fan within no time.
A Star Is Born just over a month into his professional career – Sports Illustrated, cover headline
- At the time, some of the veteran players under Isiah Thomas became frustrated when Jordan became a fan at once. Therefore, players did not give pass to Jordan during the entire game.
- During his third season, he had a broken foot and could not play for 64 games.
- The 1986-87 season of Jordan was one of the most prolific scoring seasons in the history of NBA.
- At 1986-87 season, Jordan proved to be the best defensive player by making a record of 100 blocks and 200 steals. However the Most Valuable Player Award went to Magic Johnson.
- Jordan received the first MVP award during 1987-1988 season. He also got the Defensive Player of the Year because of his average of 3.16 steals per game and 1.6 blocks.
- He played on a position of shooting guard.
- In 2015, Jordan became the first player in the history of NBA to become billionaire.
- In 1985, Nike launched its sneakers by the name of ‘Air Jordan’ and became famous until today.
- In 1996, he starred in the feature film named Space Jam.
- He is one of the most marketed players in the history of sports.
- The ESPN named Jordan as the greatest athlete of North America in the 20th century.
- In 1999, among the list of athletes of the century issued by Associated Press, Jordan was ranked second after Babe Ruth.
- In 2009 and 2010, he became inductee to the Basketball Hall of Fame twice in his career.
- Jordan has an NBA record of highest career scoring at an average of 33.45 ppg in the playoff.
- He has the record of having highest scoring average of 30.12 ppg in NBA regular season.
- He has been honored with five times Most Valuable Player Awards, ten times All-NBA First Team designations and 14 All-Star Game exhibitions.
- He is 1.98 metres (6 feet 6 inches) tall.
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