The Last Dance: Things left to explore after episodes 1 and 2

The Baseball Interlude

In the summer months of 1993, Michael Jordan was on top of the basketball world. Months later, he announced he was walking away from all of it to pursue a baseball career.

What would possess such a successful, transcendent figure to abandon certainty for the unknown?

The answer to that has been long debated. Rumors have run wild regarding his gambling issues and their consequences leading to an early basketball retirement. But was there another reason?

Competitiveness surely played a role. Ego had to be a factor in the equation as well. His father’s death had to weigh heavily. But to what degree? Was there something we don’t yet know about?

Then there’s the baseball experience itself, which went poorly. While his lore helped get him to AA ball, his production never met that level’s expectations. And his baseball career was short-lived as a result.

How heavily did the failures on the baseball diamond weigh on Jordan? And what was the effect of those emotions on his second stint in Chicago?

Equally interesting is what the transition back to basketball looked like. We already saw a self-created regimen to beat an injury. Did the move back to the NBA look similar?

These are questions that demand answers in telling the story leading up to The Last Dance.