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Hopefully ESPN's 'The Last Dance' Encourages MJ to Return to the Public Eye

Former Chicago Bulls GM Reveals Philadelphia 76ers Tried to Trade for Michael Jordan

With the 2019-2020 NBA season on hold, basketball fans are only left with so much to discuss. Last week, the fans only had a players-only NBA 2K20 tournament, and a HORSE competition to talk about. This week, ESPN and the NBA offered up the highly-anticipated Michael Jordan documentary titled 'The Last Dance.'

Although the docuseries was initially set to air in June, the suspension of sports called for producers to fast-track the editing process, so basketball fans have something to watch and discuss as we wait for the return of sports in America.

As you can expect, Michael Jordan and the old Chicago Bulls have been all anybody has talked about since the series debuted on Sunday night. And recently, the Bulls' former General Manager, Rod Thorn, revealed an interesting tidbit regarding Jordan and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Back in 1984, before the Bulls acquired the UNC standout that was Michael Jordan, Chicago's General Manager at the time, Rod Thorn, heard a few offers from inquiring franchises. It was clear that Jordan was going to become the No. Three overall pick in the draft, but Thorn had to weigh out his options as most GM's would. 

While there were tons of "lesser" offers on the table, Thorn recently told David Kaplan on ESPN 1000 in Chicago that Philly and Dallas proposed "really strong offers," to try and trade up for Michael Jordan. Obviously, the deals weren't strong enough. In hindsight, Thorn would've looked like a fool trading the pick that became Michael Jordan away. Fortunately for him, that's not the case. 

The Sixers ended up with Charles Barkley that season and still had themselves a solid team at the time. Therefore, missing out on Jordan wasn't a huge blow. Looking back on it now, however, I'm sure nobody would've complained about landing a player who is recognized as arguably one of the greatest players of all time. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_

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