Jerry Krause explains how Michael Jordan could've screwed up the Bulls in '99: "He could have easily put us in an extremely tough situation by saying he wanted to play"
After winning their sixth NBA championship, Michael Jordan celebrated the win in the Bahamas. But instead of having a real good time, Jordan suffered a freak injury when he severely cut the index finger of his shooting hand with a cigar cutter.
Shortly after he returned to the United States, MJ announced that he was retiring, again. According to ex-general manager Jerry Krause, Mike's decision to call it quits after hurting himself spared the Chicago Bulls from a messy situation.
"He could have easily put us in an extremely tough situation by saying he wanted to play and force us to sign him to the biggest contract in team sports history," admitted Krause in 2020.
MJ was the highest-paid player in the NBA
During the 1997-98 season, MJ made an NBA-record $33.14 million. He was only 34 years old and was the undisputed best player on the planet. Jordan had just finished a 1997-98 campaign where he won NBA MVP and Finals MVP while leading the Bulls to a second three-peat.
Sure, Phil, Rodman, and Pippen were all gone after winning their sixth title, but Mike was still Mike. If he had elected to return for the 1998-99 NBA season, he would have still commanded the highest salary in the league, and the Bulls would have been compelled to pay up. The finger injury would have complicated matters.
"It would then have been easy to go on the disabled list with the finger injury and spend the rest of that strike-shortened season picking up checks every two weeks and not playing at all. But Michael being Michael, once he signed a contract, he gave you a thousand percent effort and would not think of stiffing you," added Krause.
But it wasn't about the money
When MJ returned to the United States after his Bahamas trip, he went to former Bulls team doctor John Hefferon to get a second opinion. Hefferson ended up performing a second surgery on MJ's index finger, and that meant MJ would've likely missed at least the start of the 1998-99 season.
That NBA campaign was shortened to 50 games due to the lockout. So the longer it took Michael to recover, the more games he missed, and the Bulls could have struggled to even get to the playoffs. Well, that's assuming he was later cleared to play, which was unsure, given its effect on his game.
MJ clarified that the injury wasn't the reason that he retired. By choosing to do so, however, he saved Krause and the Bulls a lot of money and trouble. But it was likely more about legacy than money. The Last Shot is a much better last memory of Jordan than the Finger Injury would have been.
