2001–02 Washington Wizards season

Michael Jordan came out of retirement for a second time to play with the Washington Wizards.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	1	Kwame Brown	Center		Glynn Academy (Brunswick, GA)

Regular season

Michael Jordan

After retiring from the Chicago Bulls in early 1999, Michael Jordan became the Washington Wizards’ president of basketball operations as well as a minority owner in January 2000. However in September 2001, Michael Jordan came out of retirement at age 38 to play basketball for the Washington Wizards. Jordan stated that he was returning “for the love of the game.” Because of NBA rules, he had to divest himself of any ownership of the team. Before the All-Star break, Jordan was only one of two players to average more than 25 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds as he led the Wizards to a 26-21 record. Unfortunately, after the all-star break, Jordan’s knee could not handle the workload of a full-season as he ended the season on the injured list, and the Wizards concluded the season with a 37-45 record. Still, Jordan had led the Wizards to an 18-win improvement from the previous season.

Season standings

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; MPG= Minutes per Game; SPG= Steals per Game; RPG = Rebounds per Game; APG. = Assists per Game; BPG = Blocks per Game; PPG = Points per Game

Player	GP	MPG	STL	RPG	APG	BLK	PPG
Michael Jordan	60		85	5.7	5.2	26	22.9
Richard Hamilton	63		38	3.4	2.7	14	20.0
Chris Whitney	82		72	1.9	3.8	6	10.2
Courtney Alexander	56		35	2.6	1.5	7	9.8
Tyronn Lue	71		49	1.7	3.5	0	7.8
Hubert Davis	51		28	1.5	2.1	3	7.2
Christian Laettner	57		60	5.3	2.6	25	7.1
Popeye Jones	79		50	7.3	1.6	19	7.0
Tyrone Nesby	70		61	4.5	1.3	22	6.3
Jahidi White	71		25	6.3	0.2	75	5.4
Brendan Haywood	62		21	5.2	0.5	91	5.1
Kwame Brown	57		16	3.5	0.8	26	4.5
Etan Thomas	47		17	3.9	0.1	35	4.3
Bobby Simmons	30		13	1.7	0.6	5	3.7

Award Winners

References

• Washington Wizards on Database Basketball
• Washington Wizards on Basketball Reference