Michael Jordan’s birthday is on Monday, with the famed former NBA player turning 51.
Jordan retired from the NBA many years ago, in 2003.
He went on to become the majority owner and chairman of the Charlotte Bobcats.
In 2013, he married Yvette Prieto.
She is now pregnant with twins.
Jordan’s illustrious career has been remembered by many involved with the league, such as Chicago Bulls President Michael Reinsdorf.
“When you went to the games, you literally didn’t want to miss one second because you never knew what you might miss,” Reinsdorf told ESPN. “All eyes were always on Michael and it was an incredible, joyous opportunity to get to see him play.”
“To me, when someone says Michael Jordan, I think about his refusal to lose a game, just his willingness to throw it all out there and never to give up,” added Reinsdorf. “During those games, no matter what we were down, it was like, ‘OK, Michael is going to take over and we’re going to get right back in this game.’”
Michael Wilbon wrote last year, as Jordan turned 50, that Jordan’s greatness shouldn’t be overshadowed by LeBron James’ current dominance.
“More times than I can count, when young 20ish LeBron was going through his postseason struggles, I got messages from Jordan that amounted to, ‘Hey, leave that kid alone & he’s going to kick everybody’s ass one day and you’ll feel dumb for criticizing him!' Wilbon wrote.
“But now that LeBron is doing just that, as Jordan and most others predicted, and people are forgetting just how MJ terrorized every player and thrilled every fan for years, I imagine that if Michael Jordan could give himself the ultimate birthday present, anything in the world, he'd turn 50 into 35, pull out a pair of those old Air Jordans, walk onto the court and remind people just how dumb it is to forget.”
