Why Michael Jordan Wore No. 45 - 247 Sports

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Ahead of Episodes 7 and 8 in The Last Dance, the Chicago Bulls 1997-98 documentary that resumes Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN, why Michael Jordan wore No. 45 comes back into focus. After Jordan initially retired Oct. 6, 1993, the Bulls hung his No. 23 in the rafters of the United Center. He returned March 18, 1995, and wore No. 45 until switching back May 10, 1995, to No. 23 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals — dropping 38 points as the Bulls won 104-94 over the Orlando Magic to even the series at 1-1 — but why?

As noted by Sole Collector in March 2015, citing Jordan's 1998 autobiography For the Love of the Game, 45 was his original high school jersey number at Wilmington (N.C.) Laney before he played varsity as a junior. Jordan's older brother, Larry, wore 45 and he inadvertently started carving his eventual legendary path with 23. Because half of 45 is 22 1/2, which rounds up to 23, Jordan decided on the jersey number.

After his initial retirement from the NBA, in which he stepped away and tried playing baseball, Jordan reverted back to 45 while with the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox Double-A affiliate. Jordan kept 45 in minor league baseball from 1994-95 and with the Bulls upon the roughly first two months back to honor his late father, James, who was murdered July 23, 1993. Two teenagers, Daniel Green and Larry Martin Demery, carjacked James Jordan's luxury Lexus with the license plate "UNC 0023" at a rest stop in Lumberton, North Carolina.

"When I came back, I didn't want to play in the last number that my father had seen me wear," Michael Jordan said in the autobiography, according to Sole Collector. "Because he wasn't around, I thought of my return as a new beginning."

Jordan slashed .202/.289/266 with three home runs, 51 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases while striking out 114 times and drawing 51 walks over the course of 127 games while wearing 45 on the Barons' 1994 season. Sporting the jersey number during his return to the Bulls down the stretch of the 1994-95 regular season, Jordan averaged 26.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals in 39.3 minutes while starting all 17 games.

Into the playoffs, starting with the Bulls' 3-1 win over the Charlotte Hornets in Eastern Conference's opening round April 28 through May 4, Jordan averaged 32.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.0 steals in 41.5 minutes over the course of the best-of-five series. But after his 19-point performance in the opening game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup with the Magic May 7, he switched back to 23.

"Number 45 is not number 23," said Nick Anderson, whose clutch steal with roughly 10 seconds left led to Horace Grant's dunk at the 6.2-second mark on the other end for the Magic's 94-91 win, after the game. "I couldn’t have done that to number 23."

Jordan returned with vengeance in Game 2, scoring 38 points on 17-of-30 shooting (56.7 percent) while collecting seven rebounds, four steals and four blocks over 43 minutes to fuel the Bulls' 104-94 win over the Magic May 10.

The in-season switch came at the price of the NBA's $25,000 fine for each game Jordan did not wear 45. Jordan made the official swap back to 23 for the 1995-96 season and beyond.

"When I came back, I thought 45 was perfect because I did have an association with the number," Jordan said in the autobiography, according to Sole Collector. "Bad luck. It didn't take long for me to change back to 23. It was part of me, but not in the professional basketball environment."

He continued with another explosive performance in Game 3, dropping 40 points on 15-of-31 shooting while grabbing seven rounds and dishing four assists in 43 minutes, but his efforts were not enough as the Bulls lost 110-101 to the Magic May 12.

The Bulls lost 4-2 to the Magic in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinals. After Game 1, Jordan's switch back to 23 saw him average 33.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.2 blocks in 42.8 minutes over the final five contests.

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