In 1993, after the Dallas Cowboys' resounding victory in Super Bowl XXVII over the Buffalo Bills, the eyes of the sports world turned to the hotly contested NBA season with the New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Seattle Supersonics and Houston Rockets, five great rivals of the Chicago Bulls, who sought to become the third three-peat in the history of the league.

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The Los Angeles Lakers achieved a three-peat in the 1950s and then the Boston Celtics won eight consecutive championships. The Bulls achieved their goal after an unforgettable final against the Suns, but the unbelievable would happen 108 days later when the game's greatest player announced his retirement from the court. Michael Jordan said goodbye to the NBA, but why?

7 Fatigue

Michael Jordan fatigue
credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Since his first steps in official competitions in 1981 at the University of North Carolina, Jordan's demands on his body were extraordinary. Three years carrying his college team on his shoulders, including a National Championship. His quick NBA debut in 1984-85 after being the third pick in the NBA Draft after Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie, going through an injury (and recovery) in the 1985-86 season, then the epic, one-sided battles against the Detroit Pistons. Jordan's two key appearances in the Olympics, leading the United States to a pair of gold medals, including the Dream Team that took the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and the hard work to get the Chicago Bulls their first three-peat. There were many games at the highest level that were possibly taking their toll on him both physically and mentally.

6 Loss Of Motivation

Michael Jordan celebrating
MPS-USA TODAY Sports

After three consecutive seasons in which impotence and frustration took over the Chicago Bulls team at the hands of the the Detroit Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer, the tough Mike, thirsty for triumphs in his seventh season, and with competent teammates such as Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxson and Bill Cartwright, managed to achieve maximum glory with the Bulls in the 1990-91 season. They set a franchise record for wins with 61 and dominated the Knicks 3-0, the 76ers 4-1 and the Pistons 4-0 in the playoffs to win their first Crown against the mythical Lakers with a huge 4-1 victory.

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In the following two seasons, the dominance of the Bulls continued, beating the Portland Trail Blazers of Clyde Drexler and the Phoenix Suns of Charles Barkley in the finals. In the course of these three rings, Jordan was the scoring champion in all three seasons, was MVP of the 1990-91 and 91-92 seasons and MVP of the finals all three years. Michael Jordan had practically accomplished everything as a basketball player, was on top of the world, and he was perhaps looking for new challenges.

5 Shadow Of Gambling

Michael Jordan Golf

As Michael Jordan himself admits in the documentary The Last Dance, gambling was his guilty pleasure. From a very young age, Jordan had a great taste for betting and for different games of chance, cards, coins, billiards, golf, basically he bet on everything. There are even rumors of escapes from the team's concentrations to go to casinos, for example. Being the top figure of the league obviously was not a good image for the NBA, so there are also rumors and that Michael Jordan's retirement was more of a suspension by the league itself, hypothesis that perhaps was confirmed in the press conference where he gives his retirement speech when a journalist asks about the possibility of a return to which Michael replied, "I have no answer for that, but if in a few years, if the Bulls want me back, and David Stern lets me return to the league, then yes, I could return."

4 Death Of His Father

Michael Jordan and his father
Credit: Star News via USA TODAY NETWORK

With the euphoria of the Bulls' three-time championship over, after Michael's toughest season not only on the court but also off it, with accusations of gambling addictions, pressure from social and political issues, and a silence before the press as a result of these accusations, his greatest personal tragedy occurred.

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His best friend, defender, number one fan, and inspiration, died. James Jordan had been murdered in the early morning of July 23, 1993, when he was returning from the funeral of a close friend. He stopped to rest, and two teenagers shot him in the chest, causing his death. His father always wanted Michael to play baseball. Michael wanted to remember him and tried to follow his father's dream.

3 Baseball

Michael Jordan Barons

The fact that Michael Jordan made the decision to leave his brilliant NBAl career to try to transfer his talents to the baseball diamond is something that some fans still don't understand. After all the problems, all the exhaustion related to the last NBA season, coupled with the death of his father, Michael Jordan made the decision to sign a minor league contract with the Birmingham Barons, a minor league team of the Chicago White Sox. Truth be told, Michael had no talent for baseball as his only good tool was his speed (he stole 30 bases). Overall, he left terrible numbers. In 127 games, he had a batting average of .202, with only 88 hits in 436 at bats, three home runs, 51 RBI and 114 strikeouts.

2 Absence

Ewing Olajuwon
MPS-USA TODAY Sports

In the absence of Michael Jordan, the Bulls obviously lost ground and teams like the Portland Trail Blazers of Clyde Drexler, the Seattle Supersonics of Gary Payton, the New York Knicks of Patrick Ewing, the Utah Jazz of Karl Malone and John Stockton, and the Phoenix Suns of Charles Barkley, were looking for glory. But it was the Houston Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon who achieved two straight championships in the absence of Jordan.

1 Return

Michael Jordan
RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Risking an entire successful basketball career to pursue a dream of playing baseball and enduring all kinds of criticism was not easy to swallow. Michael Jordan failed, and this generated a lot of frustration in him because he had made the wrong decision. But Mike's competitive instinct was there, his desire to feel he was on top of the world again, and his hunger to prove he was the best. His time in baseball gave Michael back the humility he may have lost in the avalanche of success he had achieved in the NBA. So what the basketball world was eagerly awaiting happened, and on March 18, 1995, after 17 months and 12 days, Michael Jordan confirmed his return to the NBA. Jordan was back, and the world was celebrating. There was still history to be written, and in indelible ink.