Michael Jordan is not expected to return to NBC’s NBA coverage for the upcoming season, according to a report by Michael McCarthy in Front Office Sports. The network initially announced the six-time NBA champion as a special contributor prior to its return to NBA broadcasting last season, but that tenure appears to have concluded after a single year.
The Short-Lived Broadcasting Tenure
According to the Front Office Sports report, Michael Jordan’s time on NBC ultimately mirrored his brief professional baseball career in length. When NBC officially revealed its new broadcast partnerships during its Upfront presentation in 2025 to woo advertisers, the network issued a press release that included a direct quote from Jordan stating he was “excited” to be a special contributor for the network.
However, viewers saw limited output from the player throughout the season. Jordan sat down for just one interview with NBC Sports anchor Mike Tirico. That single conversation was broken up into distinct segments, including the “Michael Jordan: Insights to Excellence” pieces that aired during halftime broadcasts. While initial reports indicated the network might conduct “two or three more interviews” as the season progressed, those appearances never materialized.
Comparison to NASCAR and Overhyped Expectations
The sparse NBA appearances stood in sharp contrast to Jordan’s regular visibility on Fox’s NASCAR coverage, where he frequently spoke about his NASCAR team.
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Aside from his co-produced documentary The Last Dance, Jordan has rarely discussed his career or the NBA in depth since retiring from professional basketball in 2003. While the initial NBC announcement led some observers to believe that pattern would change, the curtain now appears to be closing on his brief stint as a network broadcaster.
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