Starting next season, the NBA is going to have a different home. NBC will be airing games. Moreover, if you hadn’t heard, Michael Jordan is coming back. The icon returns as a special contributor for NBC’s basketball coverage. However, Jordan rarely makes public appearances. Broadcasting is a daily job. So, fans and those close to the league are all confused. Will Jordan break his character during his $40 million deal with NBC?

Given his title as a special contributor, it suggests his appearances won’t be frequent. That is for NBC’s broadcast team, which contains some A-Listers. Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, and Reggie Miller are some of the legends who will grace the mic. And to acclimate themselves with one another, they met at the infamous Kentucky Derby.

The event gave Miki Tirico, NBC’s lead play-by-play announcer for the NBA season and the Derby, a chance to get familiar with these NBA legends. However, Michael Jordan, the man everybody is curious about what his role will be, wasn’t present at the unofficial first meeting.

“I did get to hang out on Monday in New York with Reggie Miller, and Jamal Crawford, and Vince Carter are part of our team. Saw Melo at the derby, and I’m just excited about our group. It will be fun to get back into the league and to do it with guys who are contemporary to the league and still connected in so many ways, it’s going to be a blast,” Tirico noted.

In Jordan’s case, expecting him at the Kentucky Derby wouldn’t be a huge ask. His Airness has attended the event in the past, sitting in the VIP suite and enjoying an evening of horse racing. It’s been years, though, since he graced the event. And even though his contributions to the network are still in the dark, Mike Tirico can’t wait to see how it turns out.

“To have anything related to Michael Jordan connected to the NBA is really good,” he said on the Dan Patrick Show.

Within NBC, that might be a thought for most of the team. No matter what Michael Jordan does, just to have his fingers within the system is a huge honor. But what will the role of special contributor entail? Dan Patrick took a little guess.

Michael Jordan could take a page out of Kobe Bryant’s book

Now, Michael Jordan might be the highest paid sports analyst in history. However, it’s likely that he won’t be a regular presence on NBC. So far, there has been no detail about his role with the network. All Dan Patrick can preempt is that NBC will have to work on Jordan’s schedule, keeping in mind that his golf activities aren’t disturbed.

But from a contribution standpoint, the infamous analyst thinks Jordan could do something similar to what his mentee Kobe Bryant did with ESPN.

“I don’t think he is going to be at the desk. Maybe you can treat it like Kobe did ‘Detail’ where kind of Kobe went into the lab. And you know you need to have someone with Mike to help him, guide him along with things,” said Dan Patrick.

As part of the ‘Detail’ series, which ESPN ran, Kobe Bryant joined the team to give an in-depth breakdown of the various basketball actions. He would break apart every minute detail of certain players’ actions and suggest ways for them to enhance their game. Bryant did so for 16 episodes during the 2018-19 season.

Michael Jordan, being the original maniac of basketball, could provide the same role to NBC. He has the knowledge and hours of studying to do so. Or he could also occasionally jump in for marquee games to give an analysis. All will come to light once the first episode of Jordan with NBC comes on next season.

Until then, speculation and curiosity work really well for NBC who have compiled an amazing cast for their return to the NBA.