Michael Jordan can’t escape basketball Hall of Fame

Four of the five members elected Monday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame were thrilled.

The exception was the one among the nominees who knew for years this day for certain was coming: Michael Jordan.

“Look,” Jordan somberly said, “this is not fun for me. I don’t like being up here for the Hall of Fame, because at that time your career is completely over, is the way I look at it. I was hoping this day is 20 more years, or actually when I’m dead and gone. . . . Now, when you get in the Hall of Fame, what else is there for you to do?”

Jordan, arguably the greatest and most competitive basketball player of all time, was having a tough time coming to grips with his election.

Joining Jordan in this year’s class are former Navy and San Antonio Spurs star David Robinson; former Gonzaga and Utah Jazz guard John Stockton, the NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals; current Utah Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan; and current Rutgers women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer.

Sloan did not attend Monday’s announcement because of a recent death in his family.

Stringer, who has a record of 825-280 in 38 years of coaching, was so overcome she said she would need braces to keep her knees from buckling at the formal enshrinement in September in Springfield, Mass.

Stockton said that as a kid he never envisioned making it to the Hall of Fame. “Not once,” he said, “not even when I got older.”

Robinson, known as the “Admiral,” a 10-time NBA All-Star who played on two league champions and won two Olympic gold medals, said he was “entirely content with my career and that’s a good feeling.”

Jordan, though, now 46, seemed reluctant to accept his career being over. He made the winning shot for North Carolina in the 1982 NCAA title game, won Olympic gold as a member of the Dream Team, and won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.

And he never wanted any of it to end.

“This is kind of a love-hate thing for me,” Jordan said “ . . . but for me, I’ll always want to be able to have you thinking that I can always go back and play the game of basketball. Put my shorts on. . . . Am I? No. But I’d like for you to think that way.”

Jordan said golf now is his competitive escape, but nothing can replace the games.

“Hall of Fame?” Jordan said. “To me it’s like, OK, it’s over and done with. It’s pretty much done -- you can’t ever put a uniform back on. It’s totally the end of your basketball career.

“It’s a great accomplishment, I don’t walk away from it. But I’ve never envisioned myself really wanting to be up here so quickly. I wanted it to be when I was 70 years old, or something, 80 years old, but I’m [46] and I still think I can play.”

Jordan, Robinson, Sloan and Stockton were all elected in their first year of Hall of Fame consideration. The 2009 induction ceremony will mark the Hall of Fame’s 50th anniversary.

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com