In an NBA Preview video, ex-NBA player and now ESPN analyst Jalen Rose has predicted that Michael Jordan may return for one game. Even then, he is still considered as one of the worst owners in the NBA.

In their NBA Preview Series on the Grantland website, Jalen Rose joined Bill Simmons (ESPN’s ‘Sports Guy’) in analyzing and predicting the fortunes of all 30 teams. They start from the bottom, where they placed the Philadelphia 76ers.

At number 26, the Bobcats (or Hornets, as they may change their name in the future) are the fifth worst team in the NBA. Usually they’re lower than that, but this season is unique because most teams are willing to have a losing season in order to get a higher draft pick next year. The draft class will be the best in a decade, and teams may find their next franchise cornerstone there.

However, Charlotte, as Simmons and Rose pointed out, took another route by deciding to be competitive. This is one reason they went up to 26th. Yet, it is still woefully lacking because of Jordan’s past mistakes, which brought him to be considered as one of the worst owners in the league.
Jalen Rose takes a shot at controversy when he predicts that Jordan may step out of retirement to play one game with the Charlotte

Bobcats/Hornets. Yahoo Sports editors considered this as irresponsible journalism. They call out Bill Simmons for playing through Rose’s charade. Through their basketball blog “Ball Don’t Lie” they state: “Simmons, who is a little more up to date than Rose on some of the technical aspects of the whole “owners aren’t allowed to play”-rule, does do the smart “yes, and”-move and mentions that the league would waive the rule in order to let Jordan compete for a one-off, but this is ridiculous. Not even the wildest of idiotic conspiracy theorists (though I’m sure the comments below will prove me wrong) would think that the NBA would toss a decades-old rule like that just for a cynical one-off to sell more sneakers.” 

It’s an interesting story, but it is highly unlikely, to say the least. Watch the prediction in the video below.