Michael Jordan returned to the big screen in May 2025 with one of the loudest announcements any network could possibly stage. “I’m back,” flashed across the screen at Radio City Music Hall as the crowd erupted over the idea of Jordan finally joining NBA media coverage. His Airness was brought on board as a special contributor at NBC, with his involvement scheduled to begin at the start of the ongoing season. But it didn’t take long for the fans’ expectations to fall flat.

Everybody figured out that “MJ: Insights to Excellence” was a preshot podcast-like setup with Mike Tirico. And that large recording would be clipped into shorter videos that were to be aired throughout the year. When we heard “insights,” we actually thought Jordan would address deeper issues surrounding the league, like refereeing controversies, betting scandals, or maybe the legend would talk about Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee trade mess. Instead, because the interview was shot before the season, they had to cover more general topics. And that entire concept was met with relentless criticism.

Charles Barkley delivered a brutal assessment, not once but twice, of how NBC has handled the entire rollout. “Those are my guys at NBC, Mark Lazarus and Greg Hughes, but that was a terrible look,” Barkley told SI. “First of all, we need Michael Jordan back in the NBA. I think that they should do that. Like, okay, he can sit down with them for an hour once a month to talk about relative stuff that’s happening in the NBA. I mean, come on, man. Because the three most important figures in NBA history are Michael, Magic, and Larry Bird.”

Back in January, Barkley’s criticism of NBC was sharper. “That’s disingenuous… That’s crazy, man. I’m so disappointed at the way that worked out,” Chuck complained. But soon after, Tirico addressed the pushback over MJ’s segments, simply asking fans to look at the positive side.

“Was it what everyone wanted? Probably not,” Tirico said. “Was it better than not hearing from Michael Jordan? You’re damn right it was. And if we get another shot at it, will I be more than excited to be a part of it? You betcha. In our world right now, all you want to do is make the final answer before you know everything. I love that Michael trusted us enough to sit and do something that he hasn’t done in a long, long, long time.”

Reports initially claimed that the MJ-NBC deal was around $40 million annually. But Front Office Sports dismissed the rumor, saying that, even though Jordan is one of the greatest to ever grace the court, the monetary figure for a two-hour interview was inaccurate. NBC never publicly disclosed the actual value of Jordan’s agreement and declined to comment on the matter.

Even though Jordan has faced flak over the past season, the NBA legend did drop a golden nugget on load management back in October. He strongly pushed back against the narrative that players even need to sit out games to recover. Jordan spoke about how fans spend their hard-earned money to buy a ticket, and it is then the players’ duty to put on a show. Many basketball fans, especially those in Utah, remember what he did in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals.

Jordan explained that he felt he was dealing with food poisoning on June 11 that year, which was the day of Game 5 against the Jazz. He was sick and bedridden until about 90 minutes before tip-off, but then didn’t even bother with a traditional warm-up. Commonly called “The Flu Game,” Jordan scored 38, led Chicago to a win that put the Bulls one win away from the title, then collapsed onto the chest of teammate Scottie Pippen. Chicago went on to win that year.

Pivoting back to the Jordan-NBC conundrum, the network never clearly defined what “special contributor” actually meant. There was little clarity about whether he would appear in the studio, at games, or remotely, and that ambiguity ultimately matched the final product viewers received.

“Magic and Larry Saved the NBA”: Barkley’s Case for Why Jordan’s Voice Matters

Charles Barkley explained why he viewed Michael Jordan’s limited role as such a massive missed opportunity…

“Magic and Larry saved the NBA,” Barkley said. “Everybody looks at how great the NBA is today, they don’t realize that before David Stern, the average salary was only $250,000.”

In Barkley’s eyes, Jordan belongs in that same category of transformational figures whose voices still carry enormous weight with basketball fans.

NBC’s original NBA era from 1990 through 2002 was defined by Jordan’s dominance. All six of his championships came during the network’s previous run with the league, helping turn NBA on NBC into priority television for an entire generation of fans.

That history made Jordan’s return especially important once NBC secured its new 11-year NBA rights agreement alongside ESPN and Amazon. Barkley’s argument ultimately came down to one idea: NBC had the biggest possible basketball voice available and barely put him on television.

Fans who grew up watching Jordan dominate during NBC’s original run expected far more than one major appearance and occasional clips throughout the season.