NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of The 1990s

50 greatest NBA players from the 1990s — 1. Michael Jordan

Could there have been another choice? Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were the NBA’s rising power at the end of the 1980s and Jordan had already won his first MVP award before the 1990s dawned.

And what a rising power the Bulls were—six titles, spearheaded by Jordan, who was named Finals MVP at the end of every title run.

Jordan was the NBA MVP in 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96 and 1997-98, a seven-time All-Star in the decade (with All-Star Game MVP awards in 1996 and 1998), seven All-NBA nods and seven All-Defensive selections.

When he wasn’t the MVP, he was close. Jordan finished second in the voting in 1996-97 and third in 1989-90 and 1992-93.

The honors likely would have been greater had he not missed all of the 1993-94 season and most of 1994-95 after retiring to play minor league baseball. He retired again in January 1999.

He was the NBA scoring champion seven times in the 1990s (every season he played) and led the league in steals and steals per game in 1989-90 (227, 2.8) and 1992-93 (221, 2.8).

And how he played in those NBA Finals appearances—Jordan rose to the occasion when the trophy was at stake.

Jordan averaged 33.6 points, six rebounds, six assists and 1.8 steals in 43 minutes per game in his 35 games in the Finals, shooting .481/.368/.806.

In the decade, Jordan averaged 30.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.3 steals in 38.4 minutes per game, shooting .501/.359/.830.

The third overall pick by the Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft, Jordan made a third NBA comeback with the Washington Wizards from 2002-04.

In the 1990s, Jordan was the NBA’s leader in scoring at 30.8 points per game and was also second with 18,014 points and sixth with 1,344 steals.

He is the NBA’s all-time leader with an average of 30.1 points per game and is 24th all-time with 41,011 minutes played, 42nd with 5,633 assists, third with 2,514 steals, fourth with 32,292 points and an average of 2.3 steals per game and 15th with an average of 38.3 minutes per game.

Now the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets, Jordan was general manager of the Wizards from 2000-03 and was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1997.

He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.