Michael Jordan “Playing at Fifty”: Never Say Never

“One day you might look up and see me playing at fifty. ... Never say never. Because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”

Michael Jordan said this at the end of his Hall of Fame induction speech. You can hear that part in the video:

Video caption: Dean Smith, former University of North Carolina coach, with Michael Jordan at Michael’s restaurant at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill. Image credit: North Carolina/Collegiate Images/Getty Images.

Could Jordan have played at fifty?

When MJ turned fifty, he did not come back to play. In my opinion, he could have done it if he had set his mind and body to it. Perhaps he was not challenged enough. If people had doubted him, I think he would have wanted to prove them wrong. By then he had put on some weight and was not in playing shape.

The NBA's oldest players

Nat Hickey played two games in the 1947–48 season. He was 45 years and 363 days old, the oldest player to appear in the league. Hickey was white, as many players were in those early NBA years. The United States still had deep racial divisions when Pete Maravich began his professional career decades later.

More recently, Kevin Willis played his last NBA game at 44 years and 224 days. I remember him clearly: a tall, strong Black player with a bald head and a skull-like face. He was not one of the game's superstars, but he did his part.

Jordan himself played until he was forty and still scored plenty of points. Who knows? Perhaps one day another player will pick up the baton from “Air” Jordan, carry his spirit and win an NBA championship ring at fifty.

I wrote more about Jordan's need for a challenge in my comparison of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. My idea for an NBA team in a town like Vigo is another way of dreaming about that championship ring.