There has always been a roaring debate- what would NBA history look like if Michael Jordan never retired for the first time? Back then, the Chicago Bulls had just won three straight championships. His Airness was the Finals MVP in each of those runs. Jordan and the Bulls seemed unbeatable. But after his retirement to play baseball, the landscape changed. During his leave, the Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, won back-to-back titles. Now, would that be the case if the six-time champion was still on the Bulls?

A Rockets legend believes MJ couldn’t have conquered the NBA in those two seasons, mainly due to the absence of two stars. MJ returned after two years and led the Bulls to another three-peat to cement his legacy as probably the greatest player of all time.

Michael Jordan wouldn’t have won without Horace Grant and The Worm

TNT analyst and two-time NBA champion, Kenny Smith, joined Dan Patrick on his show to discuss his career. Amongst the many topics were his championships with Olajuwon and the Rockets. There has always been a scar on the Rockets’ success in 1994 and 1995. ‘There was no Michael Jordan’ is what most say. But according to Smith, MJ being a Bull would have been inconsequential, he couldn’t see them win in any circumstance. Why? because they didn’t have either Dennis Rodman or Horace Grant.

“People forget, those two years there was no Dennis Rodman and no Horace Grant. That’s why they lost to Shaquille and Orlando. They were too small. It wasn’t that Jordan wasn’t the greatest basketball player we still had seen,” said Kenny Smith about the Bulls without their defensive pillars.

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Without those two, Smith felt no one on the Bulls was ‘good enough’ to guard Hakeem Olajuwon. You might make a run for Scottie Pippen, but Olajuwon’s size, footwork, post moves, and versatility as a two-way player were the stuff of legends. In 1995, he demolished Shaquille O’Neal, the same guy who beat the Bulls with Jordan.

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In that two-year stretch, the NBA Hall of Famer was at his best. Smith still believes Jordan wouldn’t have won against his Rockets if they ever made the Finals. But what about after they added Rodman? Well, Smith was left scratching his head on that one.

What was Dennis Rodman’s impact on the Bulls?

After the 1995 playoffs exit, Chicago knew they needed someone like Horace Grant. The General as he was called, was an elite defensive player. He was a hustler, a looming double-double threat who at his peak averaged 15 points per game with the Bulls. Grant was the third star behind Pippen and MJ. A two-time All-Defensive second-team member, he was essential to Chicago’s first three-peat.

Similar was The Worm. After his ugly run with the Spurs, he joined the Bulls ahead of the 1995-96 season. In his three years in Chicago, the Bulls won the championships each season. Rodman bound it all together. He could defend the big guys, rebound like no other, and occasionally score some points as well.

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With them is when the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan were the most lethal. Without them, who knows what NBA history would behold the Bulls and Jordan.