“My father saw me in 23 last” – Michael Jordan on why he wore No. 45 when he returned to the Bulls in 1995

Jordan wore the number as a tribute to his older brother and late father.

Michael Jordan wore a different jersey number in his first game back after retirement. Mr. Air will forever be linked to 23. After all, that’s the number he wore when he won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls during the 1990s. However, when he returned from his first retirement on March 19, 1995, at Indiana’s Market Square Arena, Jordan wore 45.

Why? The legendary guard revealed it was because he used to wear it as a child in honor of his older brother Larry.

“I had it in high school, and I had it all through high school and junior high,” explained Jordan. “The only reason I went to 23 was my brother and I were on the same high school team together, so he had the number before me. So I had to take half, which was twenty-two-and-a-half, so I went on 23.”

The Bulls’ No.23 jersey 

As a kid, Michael idolized Larry and wore his number when he played for his high school’s junior varsity team. However, he had to change it when they played on the senior team. Jordan chose 23, hoping he could be just one-half the basketball player his older brother was.

That number was brought along when MJ came to Chapel Hill to play for Dean Smith and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. When he joined the Bulls, no one on the team wore 45 during his rookie year, but Jordan chose to continue wearing 23, and it became the best-selling jersey in the history of the NBA.

1995 was also a new beginning for the legendary guard. The last time he wore 23, the Bulls won a third straight championship. Shortly after that, MJ’s father was murdered. And so he wanted to preserve that number along with James Jordan’s memory.

“My father saw me in 23 last,” he added. “I don’t want to bring that jersey down from the rafters.”

It did not last long, though

Jordan wore 45 in his team’s final 17 games of the regular season. He wore it when Chicago defeated the Charlotte Hornets 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs. He wore it in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic.

But after the Bulls lost their series opener against the Magic, Jordan knew they needed 23 back.

“Before Game 2 our equipment guy put the 23 jersey in the locker instead of 45. And I guess Michael looked at him as like, ‘It’s time,'” said Former Bulls announcer Dore to the Columbia Missourian in 2020. “So, he comes over to me and says, ‘Hey, I’m putting my cape back on.’ I knew exactly what he meant. And he says, ‘Which camera is yours?’ So, you know, the guy raised his hand; he put the red light on.”

“Michael said, ‘I’m going to turn after the introduction; I’ll turn and face him, and I’ll pull off my warmup jersey, and you’ll see 23.’ So, I said, ‘Got it, I’ll take care of everything.’ So I kind of warned Chicago on TV, you know, the viewers during the pregame show with some special coming up,” he added.

Despite wearing 23 again, the Bulls were eliminated by the Magic 4-2 in that series. Jordan went back to the drawing board that summer. With a full offseason to prepare, the Bulls had a record-breaking 72-win regular season in 1995-96 and won their fourth NBA championship.