First Retirement

[HighFlyer23]

Was MJ already the GOAT by his first retirement in 1993?

[fourkicks44]

Was MJ already the GOAT by his first retirement in 1993?

I say yes now, but back then I didn't think so.

[Gileraracer]

I don't think so. His 3peat was great and his stats where ridiculous, but the second 3peat cemented him as the GOAT.

[Smoke117]

You can't put him above Kareem without the 2nd three-peat.

[Quickening]

Yes, you lose 3 fmvps but his career stats would have been better, and he already proved he could win as the man.

[LilEddyCurry]

There would be no consensus GOAT if he did retire after his first three-peat. It would be between MJ and Kareem.

[aj1987]

Nope. KAJ would be above him. He'd be in the same tier as Magic, Bird, etc. (considering that the list was made in '94).

[Micku]

You guys haven't checked out what ppl were saying back in 1993, huh?

They were already calling him GOAT before he won his 3rd ring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pColWX0Cadw

There was a video on youtube that was in 1993, and they were comparing MJ to the other greats like Kareem, Wilt, Bird and Magic. They were saying that they had more allstars on their teams, and MJ carried the Bulls straight to the finals and won. They called him the best offensive and defensive player too. I can't find it tho, but if I do I'll post it here.

But yeah. By 1993, ppl thought that MJ was arguably the best ever. With the second peat, it was pretty much done.

edit: Imo, there is definitely a case of him by 1993. But the 2nd peat done it.

[julizaver]

Was MJ already the GOAT by his first retirement in 1993?

Yes, he was considered the GOAT arounf that time - and prior to his retiring anouncement. That's what most of people at the time thinks about it. He was seen as the basketball god, the perfect player.
The second 3pt just cemented his reputation, although he was not the quite the same player. If I am to be honest his almost two years of absence have mostly negative effect upon his body, rather than if he was playing. He got up some extra pounds, lost a step and his vertical was not there. I saw almost all of his games in 1995 and he was clearly out of shape.
In the offseason he works hard and was more like himself in the historical '96 season. He got some of his explosivness and vertical back.

[Dragonyeuw]

There was a lot of talk about it, but it was really the second 3-peat where it became near-consensus.

[fourkicks44]

There was a lot of talk about it, but it was really the second 3-peat where it became near-consensus.

There was alot of talk about it.

Back then a 12 year old Fourkicks44 used to debate his friends and a lot of grown ups who all thought MJ was the GOAT.

I use to say Magic was the GOAT cause he had more championships and he could play every position.

Time tells that I was wrong.

[Rolando]

That's part of why he retired. He felt he had nothing left to prove.

[Rake2204]

I think it would have been absolutely fair to question whether he was the greatest of all-time by his first retirement, but not many did. Call it conjecture or truth, but when Jordan stepped away in '93, the majority seemed to treat it as the retirement of the greatest, particularly considering he was coming off of his third consecutive championship, seventh straight scoring title, etc.

[Klay 3D]

Almost, but he was top 5 all-time already before he was 30.

[DCL]

he was widely accepted as the GOAT by the hype machine after his first 3-peat, but he came back probably because magic was still talking shit to him that he only got 3.

if magic johnson had 6 rings, MJ would had aimed for 7.