The Best Basketball Player in World Should Be Happy--but Isn’t

Michael Jordan is the best basketball player in the world and he plays for the best team in the world. The Chicago Bulls are defending champions. They have nearly lapped the National Basketball Association with a 55-12 record. Jordan again is the leading scorer and so far superior to any other player in the league that the Most Valuable Player voting will be a joke if it is not one-sided.

Jordan is at the height of his popularity -- perhaps the most popular athlete on the planet. He is a fabulously successful businessman. If Michael Jordan endorses a product, it turns to gold. And he is paid accordingly. It would not be the least bit surprising to find out that Jordan’s total value is quickly approaching $100 million.

The public Michael Jordan, however, is not a happy man. The simple game of basketball that he has mastered gets very complicated when he leaves the court and walks into the locker room, or the board room. The business of basketball has become so overwhelming that Jordan still is not certain if he is going to play in the Olympics.

He’ll know more Wednesday when he meets with his financial representatives and legal team in Washington. Jordan says he wants to play in the Olympics. “I’ve never had any reservations,” he said Tuesday night before scoring 40 points in the Bulls’ 90-79 win over the New Jersey Nets.

But he does now, and, not surprisingly, they involved that ugly “M” word, money.

Which is not to say that Jordan wants to be compensated for playing in the Olympics. He simply wants to make sure that the NBA is not getting rich from the Olympics.

“If no one is going to make money out of this, that’s great,” he said. “When people start making money, then that’s a different situation. USA Basketball (the governing body of U.S. Olympic basketball) is a non-profit situation. I’d love to see them get all the money. I wouldn’t want to see the NBA make tons and tons of dollars off a retainer fee. If we’re (players) going to do it and give up our compensation for it, then everybody should.”

Jordan’s reservations are primarily focused around one issue. The NBA is a member of USA Basketball, but since USA Basketball is a non-profit organization, it does not have a marketing department. Therefore, USA Basketball asked NBA Properties to market the Olympic effort and is paying NBA Properties a fee. The issue iw the fee. How much is it? Jordan wants to know, and no one is saying.

David Falk, Jordan’s agent, obviously has told Jordan that the NBA will be getting rich off the Olympics. The NBA denies it. And it is apparent that Falk has told Jordan nothing about the NBA’s expense in the matter.

Jordan knew nothing Tuesday night about the number of NBA employees who are working full-time on the Olympics, or the amount of money it will take to move the NBA draft to Portland, Ore., where the Tournament of the Americas (Olympic qualifying tournament) will be held. He did not know about the cost of running the pre-Tournament of the Americas training camp in the San Diego-area, or about the charter airplane for players and wives to Monte Carlo, where they will be housed in a first-class hotel the week before the Olympics begin. The NBA -- not USA Basketball -- pays for all of the above.

That’s not to say the NBA won’t make money. It is simply to say that, unlike Falk has undoubtedly painted it, the NBA has expenses in addition to revenues.

“I want to play,” Jordan said. “If it comes to a point where they feel they can’t work compromises in terms of guidelines -- who’s going to make money, where the money is actually going, who’s profiting from the situation -- then it’s never going to be any compromise. If it’s going to be the way they’ve laid it out to me as of right now, that’s going to be tough to swallow. ... I’m not here to resign from the Olympics. But I’m not here to accept (the) guidelines. ... (But) it’s their team. They can kick me off.”

It seems to me the issue could be resolved rather easily. Jordan should meet alone with USA Basketball president Dave Gavitt. He should be able to ask his hard questions, and Gavitt should answer. If USA Basketball has nothing to hide and the NBA iw not going to get rich off the endeavor, then present the facts to Jordan. He is big enough and important enough for that courtesy to be extended.

Jordan said he is not concerned about his image, although he clearly was sensitive about what might happen if a business matter keeps him off the Olympic team.

“I’m pretty sure people are going to say I’m not American,” Jordan said. “They didn’t say that in ’84 when I played. I have a gold medal. People tend to forget that.”

Jordan had finished his junior year in college when he played on the ’84 Olympic team. He said the current mess is proof that college players should be representing the United States in the Olympics.

Which was an interesting conclusion. Jordan believes that involving someone as popular as Michael Jordan creates too many problems. So does that mean that Michael Jordan has actually become bigger than Michael Jordan?

Apparently so. And it is very clear that as it relates to the Olympics, Jordan is not happy about it.