Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan returned to the NBA near the end of the 1994-95 season.
Everyone on the Bulls was happy Jordan was back.
Well, almost everyone.
According to NBA icon Scottie Pippen, Bulls general manager Jerry Krause “wasn’t excited.”
“On March 18, he made it official with his famous fax: I’m back. I was overjoyed, which I think surprised some people,” Pippen wrote in his book. “They figured I wouldn’t want to be demoted to No. 2 again. That I preferred to be Batman to Robin. I won’t lie. I enjoyed being the man, proving to the critics I could take my game to a whole other level if I didn’t have to defer to Michael.
“Jerry Krause, meanwhile, had more to prove. Winning 55 games in the 1993-94 season wasn’t enough. No wonder he wasn’t excited about having Michael back.”
Jordan and Krause did not have a good relationship. During his legendary run with the Bulls, Jordan observed Krause do several things that upset him.
Jordan stopped trusting Krause after what happened during his second NBA season. MJ was put on a strict time limit in 1985-86 after he broke his foot in the season’s third game. Krause and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf wanted their superstar shooting guard to sit out the season, but Jordan rehabbed his foot quickly and returned to the lineup on March 15.
Krause told Bulls head coach Stan Albeck not to disobey Jordan’s time restriction if he wanted to keep his job. That put the coach in a tough spot, especially during an April 3 game against the Indiana Pacers.
Jordan had 26 points in 28 minutes, but he was pulled from the game on the Bulls’ final possession with the team down one because of Krause’s time restriction.
An infuriated Jordan sat on the bench and watched John Paxson hit a game-winning shot. While he was happy Chicago won, Jordan was frustrated because Krause violated a fundamental aspect of sports and how he conducted his life: Jordan wanted to win every game and felt Krause wasn’t aligned with him.
After the Bulls defeated the Pacers, Krause tried to enter the locker room, but Albeck locked the door. To no one’s surprise, Albeck was fired in the offseason and replaced by Doug Collins.
Jordan never forgot what Krause did on April 3, 1986. From that moment on, Jordan made it a point to embarrass Krause.
During the 1992 Olympics, Jordan and Pippen attacked Toni Kukoc when Team USA faced Croatia because Krause drafted Kukoc. Krause was enamored with bringing Kukoc to Chicago despite having two of the best players in the world, Jordan and Pippen.
The Bulls stars wanted to make their GM look bad on a worldwide stage and they did.
Another example of Jordan’s hatred for Krause was when he went after Phoenix Suns swingman Dan Majerle in the 1993 NBA Finals. Krause loved Majerle, which was enough for Jordan to destroy the Phoenix small forward.
Jordan averaged 41.0 points in the 1993 NBA Finals and led the Bulls to their third straight championship.
The final straw for Jordan was when Krause said Phil Jackson wouldn’t return as head coach in 1998-99 even if the Bulls went 82-0 and won the championship in 1997-98.
Chicago won the 1998 title in six games over the Utah Jazz, but the team was broken up in the offseason.
Jordan finished his career with six championships and six Finals MVPs. He also won five regular-season MVPs, 10 scoring titles, three steals titles and one Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Krause died in 2017.
