One of the upcoming changes when it comes to the upcoming NBA season is the return of NBC as a streaming partner for the league. NBC will air the league’s first two games of the season on Opening Night, as well as a slew of other important dates on the league’s calendar like All-Star weekend and playoff games. In addition to the streaming rights, NBC announced a series where Hall of Famer Michael Jordan sits down with longtime NBC on-air journalist Mike Tirico for what will be called, “MJ: Insights to Excellence.”
The series will run throughout the season, with a portion of the first installment running during halftime of Tuesday’s Rockets-Thunder game.
Jordan has never been an on-air talent guy, but doing it with NBC makes sense given he was practically the face of basketball coverage on NBC throughout his and the Chicago Bulls dynastic run in the ’90s.
The content of the series, however, is unclear. Will Jordan actually break down film from today’s stars, similar to what the late Kobe Bryant did in a series for ESPN called “Detail,” or will it just be a regurgitation of Jordan’s legacy and the “keys” to his success throughout his career.
But if this is just similar in vein to The Last Dance, with clips of Jordan’s glory days interspersed with nuggets of knowledge from him on what it takes to be “great,” then it might not be that appealing. Still, though, whatever it is, getting Jordan to sit down for any interview about basketball is no small feat. So even if it is just him talking about his playing days, it will surely still entertain fans.
