NBC spent their first season back in the NBA trying to recreate the magic people remembered.

Roundball Rock came back. Bob Costas, Marv Albert, and other familiar voices were back in carefully chosen spots. The broadcasts looked and sounded like NBC again. Even the old-school player introductions made their way into the new package.

Michael Jordan seemed like the obvious finishing touch.

NBC had every championship of Jordan’s career. His shrug against Portland, the Flu Game, the final shot over Bryon Russell — those aren’t just Jordan memories. They’re NBA on NBC memories, too. If the network wanted one person who could connect their past to their future, they couldn’t have picked a more obvious choice.

The problem was that NBC never really figured out what to do with him.

Front Office Sports reported that Jordan isn’t expected to return to NBC’s coverage for the 2026-27 season. NBC declined to comment, and the report left open the possibility that Jordan could still change his mind.

If he doesn’t, his entire run as a “special contributor” will amount to one interview with Mike Tirico, chopped into five segments that ran three or four minutes at a time.

That’s less than 20 minutes of Michael Jordan spread across an entire NBA season.

NBC Announced Jordan Before They Defined His Role

NBC announced Jordan’s addition at their upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall in May 2025, more than five months before the network’s first regular-season broadcast.

I'm so excited to see the NBA back on NBC. The NBA on NBC was a meaningful part of my career, and I’m excited about being a special contributor to the project.

And that was pretty much the whole job description.

“Special contributor” could mean almost anything. Maybe Jordan would pop into the studio every now and then. Maybe he’d sit down with current stars, offer some playoff thoughts, or show up around All-Star Weekend. Nobody expected him to become a full-time debate-show guy, but it seemed fair to assume NBC had something real planned for the biggest name they had.

Jordan’s limited availability only made the announcement feel bigger. He hasn’t exactly spent retirement chasing microphones. The Last Dance in 2020 was his last extended television conversation about basketball before NBC brought him in. Getting to hear him talk about today’s game was an obvious selling point.

NBC treated him like one of the faces of the new operation, too. His name kept showing up in all the promotions throughout the offseason. The message was pretty clear, even if the details weren’t: Michael Jordan was back with the NBA on NBC.

Then opening night showed up, and the big plan turned out to be a few minutes from one prerecorded interview.

The first installment of MJ: Insights to Excellence aired during halftime of Houston’s season opener against Oklahoma City. Jordan talked about missing competition and not picking up a basketball in years. It was interesting stuff. Jordan’s still a fascinating interview, especially when a little of that old competitive edge comes through.

It also lasted about three and a half minutes.

One Interview Had To Last Five Months

NBC aired the second part of Jordan’s interview a week later. He criticized load management and explained why he always felt obligated to play for the fan who had saved up for a seat in the nosebleeds.

That clip made headlines, but it also showed the problem with the whole setup. Jordan wasn’t reacting to a specific game or any storyline. He couldn’t, because the interview had been recorded before the season even started.

So NBC kept slicing it up.

A third installment, this one about Jordan’s love of basketball, aired in December. Another clip about playing at Madison Square Garden was held until the February launch of Sunday Night Basketball. The fifth and final segment, with a lot on Jordan’s Olympic memories and thoughts on the GOAT debate, finally showed up in March.

There was some good stuff in the interview. Jordan’s answer on cross-generational GOAT debates was more thoughtful than most of the yelling that you usually hear on sports talk TV:

The whole GOAT term is never going to be something that I ever will get high or low about. It just doesn't exist with me. I never played against Oscar Robertson or Jerry West. Would have loved to, absolutely loved to, just as competitive as I am. I actually learned from them, and we paved the road to the Kobes and the LeBrons, right?

His explanation of what representing the United States in the 1984 Olympics meant to him also gave viewers a more personal side of the story.

The problem was watching NBC roll out each clip as if Jordan had come back with something new to say.

In November, Front Office Sports reported that Jordan could do another two or three interviews around the All-Star Game and playoffs. One source called the arrangement “open-ended.” But those interviews never happened.

By January, Mike Tirico acknowledged that there weren’t any more scheduled. He also gave the interview they did have a pretty fair defense:

Was it what everyone wanted? Probably not. Was it better than not hearing from Michael Jordan? You’re damn right it was.

He’s right. Hearing from Jordan was better than hearing nothing.

That’s also a pretty low bar for the signature addition to a massive broadcast launch.

NBC Bought The Idea Of Michael Jordan

The obvious question is how this ended up being so awkward.

Jordan might have wanted total control over when he appeared and how often he talked. That wouldn’t be surprising. He doesn’t exactly hand out interviews, and that scarcity's part of what makes people pay attention when he does speak. NBC may have agreed to one conversation because one conversation was all Jordan was willing to do.

But NBC still decided how to sell it.

Nobody needed Jordan sitting behind a studio desk three nights a week. That probably would’ve gotten old fast. But three or four appearances that actually connected to what was happening around the league? That would’ve been enough. Opening night. All-Star Weekend. The playoffs. Maybe the Finals.

Let him talk about the best players in the league right now. Put him across from somebody chasing one of his records. Give him a reason to watch a game and react to what he saw.

NBC apparently couldn’t make any of that happen.

Even in February, NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said the network had “plenty of ongoing discussions” with Jordan and hoped there would be more. By then, NBC was still stretching out pieces of the original interview. The network knew people expected more. They knew they needed more. And they still finished the season using the same conversation they'd recorded before opening night.

That doesn’t mean Jordan’s five segments were worthless. It means NBC’s way of presenting them was hard to defend.

NBC hired the most famous basketball player alive and spent the season selling access to him that they never really had. Jordan’s name helped sell the return. His image looked perfect next to the old NBA on NBC logo.

But they got a lot of fans' hopes up for nothing.

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