M.L. Carr Tried to Sign Jordan

[Ed Monix]

There was almost a chance Michael Jordan could have been a Celtic, at least according to a former Boston general manager.

The timeline does check out, according to ex-Celtics coach and general manager M.L. Carr. He targeted “His Airness” when Carr took over in 1994, which was in the middle of Jordan’s first retirement. Jordan didn’t play for all of the 1993-94 NBA season only to return for the final 17 games of the 1994-95 season.

That’s when Carr said he made an offer to then-Bulls general manager Jerry Krause: A first-round pick just for the opportunity to talk to Jordan. Carr made his comments on SiriusXM NBA Radio detailing his hope to get Jordan to Boston.

“I felt that if and just the chance to talk to him to get him to come back out of retirement, it’d be worth laying out a first-round pick because I felt like I could convince him to put on the green uniform,” Carr said. “Have an incredible new marketing path and make a fortune doing that. Tell him coming to the Celtics would be a good thing.”

There was a little more to Carr’s rationale than just a random phone call. Carr said he knew Jordan for years and they had a preexisting relationship. That was going to be his in to try to convince one of the greatest players ever to return to the game.

“Well, here’s the deal,” Carr said. “Michael Jordan’s parents lived about a mile-and-a-half away from my parents in a little place called Wallace, North Carolina. I’ve known Michael all his life. I’ve known his grandmother.”

Of course, that never ended up panning out and the Celtics kept their draft pick. Even for that era, offering up a first-round pick does seem like a far fetched idea. Carr said Krause denied any claim that Carr offered a pick just to talk to Jordan, but that those turn of events did happen.

source: masslive.com

[Roy H.]

Yeah, I remember those attempts.  Wasn’t it the same summer we signed Dominique?

[Donoghus]

Yeah, I remember those attempts.  Wasn’t it the same summer we signed Dominique?

I believe so.  1994.

[cons]

def was worth a try! haha

u go m.l. !

[86MaxwellSmart]

I personally told him to sign Dana Barros, he did. True story

[Roy H.]

The funny thing about the story was that Carr offered a first round pick to speak with MJ, so as to avoid tampering rules.

Nowadays, we wouldn’t worry about such mundane details. We’d either contact his agent to “talk about another player”, or have one of our players directly contact MJ.

[ManchesterCelticsFan]

MJ on the Celtics would have been awesome! If Bulls were careless enough to get that first round pick and MJ were persuaded, maybe the Celtics could have followed through with the #3 & #6 picks for Scottie Pippen as well?