It started with a video and a promise of something special. Back in May 2025, NBC pulled back the curtain on its returning NBA coverage and revealed Michael Jordan as a “special contributor.” The announcement was slick, the name was enormous, and the hire quickly became one of the most anticipated moves in recent sports-media history.
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Sixteen months later, that hype has turned into one of the season’s most consistent stories, only there is bad news this time.
Michael Jordan is not expected to return to NBC’s NBA coverage for the 2026-27 season, according to Front Office Sports.
But here’s the thing: For all the anticipation surrounding Jordan’s role in 2025, his actual presence on the broadcast was quite limited. Across the entire season, he sat down with Mike Tirico just once.
The interview was recorded before the season got underway, then broken into several pieces and rolled out at different points throughout the year.
No second interview was ever scheduled.
His first ‘Michael Jordan: Insights to Excellence’ segment aired at halftime of NBC’s opening game last year, followed just a week later by a second installment. But there was a catch: it wasn’t a new interview. It was just another cut from the same conversation with Tirico.
In total, five segments from the same interview were released at different times, and people were not happy at all. For instance, NBA analyst Charles Barkley had mentioned earlier this year:
“It’s a bad look for NBC, and it’s just a bad look, plain and simple. They couldn’t fly to Michael like once a month and do a new interview? That makes NBC look really bad.”
Reports later suggested NBC could sit down with him for “two or three more interviews” during the season, but none of those additional conversations ever came to life.
While FOS has reported Jordan’s departure, no formal announcement yet from NBC confirming or denying Jordan’s future involvement.
The exact reason behind Jordan’s exit remains unclear, but NASCAR could offer a clue.
He was far more visible on Fox’s NASCAR broadcasts last season, where he regularly spoke about his NASCAR team, than he was during NBC’s NBA coverage. That could suggest his attention is simply shifting toward the racing world.
That said, FOS‘ Michael McCarthy hasn’t completely shut the door on a Jordan return, acknowledging that he “could change his mind.” Still, he mentioned he considers that outcome unlikely.
Jordan’s NBC chapter had initially opened before the first ball was even tipped. The segment premiered during NBA opening-night pregame coverage ahead of the Thunder-Rockets matchup, but what followed quickly revealed the reality: Jordan wasn’t going to have a regular role in NBC’s season-long coverage.
The reported end of his contributor role closes out a hire that generated significant buzz on arrival and, by the fan reaction so far, an even louder wave of frustration on its way out.
Fans React to Michael Jordan Ending His Short NBC Gig
The backlash had been building for months before this exit report. It followed a familiar pattern as more ‘MJ: Insights to Excellence’ segments aired, viewers noticed Tirico and Jordan wearing identical outfits in the same setting across supposedly separate episodes, quickly confirming the entire package came from one taped conversation rather than ongoing check-ins.
Tirico himself later admitted as much to Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina. He acknowledged the format “probably” wasn’t what fans expected, while defending the decision to keep airing clips from it anyway.
“Was it what everyone wanted? Probably not,” Tirico said. “Was it better than not hearing from Michael Jordan? You’re damn right it was.”
That defense did little to satisfy fans reacting to news of Jordan’s departure this week.
Fans wrote:
- “The way they stretched that one interview for a whole season was diabolical.”
- “Wouldn’t even consider him part of the coverage in the first place lmao, what a letdown that was.”
Since walking away from basketball in 2003, Michael Jordan has largely kept his career and the NBA at arm’s length. His co-produced ‘Last Dance’ documentary was a notable exception.
So, his NBC role seemed to signal that the silence might finally end. Instead, what looked like the beginning of a new chapter in broadcasting now appears to have been a very brief one.
Hence, disappointed fans wrote:
- “He deada-s gave us nothing. Hyped it up for no reason.”
- “NBC turned one Michael Jordan interview into a payment plan.”
Another simply noted the irony of reporting an “exit” for someone who barely showed up in the first place: “Return? He didn’t show up the first time.”
The disappointment aligns with just how rare Jordan’s media presence has been throughout his post-playing career. He hadn’t held any broadcasting role since retiring in 2003, spending the years since as owner of the Charlotte Hornets and as co-owner of NASCAR’s 23XI Racing.