Michael Jordan's new TV gig will burnish his legacy and brand

NBC didn't release specifics about Jordan's role as a "special contributor," but it's a marked change from the six-time NBA champion's generally low profile. Since the "The Last Dance" documentary came out in 2020, Jordan has been largely absent from television. He sold his majority share of the Charlotte Hornets in 2023 while competing as a NASCAR owner along with Denny Hamlin with 23XI Racing (now suing NASCAR for antitrust violations).

Jordan's addition makes obvious sense for NBC, which gets NBA coverage back for the first time since 2002. The network has already signed Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony and Jordan's old rival, Reggie Miller, while bringing back their classic theme song by John Tesh, "Roundball Rock."

The move is less obvious for Jordan, but it might have to do with declining sales for reissues of his signature Nike shoes on resale sites like StockX. Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time (apologies to LeBron James), but his heyday with the Bulls ended 27 years ago. It's hard to keep brand momentum simply through YouTube highlights.

That is, without new TV ventures. When "The Last Dance" premiered during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, searches for Jordan Brand products would spike after each new episode. While Nike's Jordan Brand approached $7 billion in sales in 2024, the saturated shoe market and consumers' fading memories of Jordan's brilliance have slowed sales.

Perhaps Jordan is agreeing to TV appearances as a way to remind fans — and consumers — of his brilliant career. NBC figures to include a lot of footage of Jordan's career highlights, many of which were broadcast on their network originally, while he was wearing sneakers that Nike would surely love to re-release.

It also helps him in the "Greatest Of All Time" argument against 40-year-old LeBron James, who is approaching the end of his career. Whenever James finally does retire, it will restart the ever-simmering arguments about whether James or Jordan is the all-time greatest. It can't hurt Jordan's G.O.A.T. case if he has a TV platform when that happens.

Or, Jordan simply wants to host "Saturday Night Live" again. After all, NBC had Michael B. Jordan host two years ago, and perhaps Jordan took that personally.

No matter what happens to his sneaker sales or legacy arguments, Jordan should remember he's good enough, he's smart enough and doggone it, people like him.