Michael Jordan on Playing in Today’s NBA With Sports Betting—Social Media and Brand Building

A lot has changed over the years throughout the sports industry. Just 30 years ago, athletes weren’t concerned with social media, building personal brands using their names and likeness or sports betting. However, nowadays such things are rampant. Nevertheless, one of the greatest figures of the National Basketball Association recently weighed in on situation. In an interview, Michael Jordan touched on how he’d approach playing in today’s NBA with sports betting, social media, and brand building.

MJ dominated the NBA during a glorious run with the Bulls in the 90s, but even he knows the modern league is a different beast. When Jordan played TikTok, Twitter and Instagram didn’t exist. Heck, the internet was still in its infancy and most didn’t even own cellphones. The smartphones and devices we all use today were still years down the road.

Today, kids and adults can snap pics and videos at games. Athletes can post too in order to gain more exposure and fame online. But it comes with a price. These things can become a distraction for athletes, perhaps even causing them to lose focus of what is most important. Winning games.

In conversation with Sportradar’s Carsten Koerl and DraftKings’ Jason Robins at the SBC Summit in Lisbon last week; MJ made a rare public appearance. He was asked about being a player in the modern NBA. Michael responds,

“I’ve thought about it. If I were to play today, what would the game be? It’s a totally different game. But I think ultimately, the conclusion that I come to is that I just play the game.

I can’t worry about what people are betting on. I can’t worry about what the stats are. I never worry about the stats. All I care about is the end of the game. If we win, I couldn’t care less who won the bet, who didn’t win the bet.

I know I won the game. Ultimately, that’s all that I even focused on. And I think, unfortunately, I mean, things have changed in terms from an athlete’s perspective, is that all those things come into play.

I remember, actually, you wouldn’t know what I did before a game. You wouldn’t know what I did after the game. Today, you know all those things. And I think that’s because the fans want to be connected with the athlete even greater. But on top of that, these guys are looking at that to understand what the betting scenario is, or how they’re going to set their odds.

So as an athlete, back then, in relationship to today, I would like to think, me personally, is that I would’ve still focused on my opponent. I would’ve focused on what my opponent can do, either going left, right, blah, blah, blah. I would’ve never worried about who’s betting on the Bulls, who’s not betting on the Bulls, what’s the spread, blah, blah, blah.

Now, it could have been a part of the whole process. But ultimately, as an athlete, I can only influence one thing. It’s what I do on the basketball court. Outside of that, we do not control. I think there’s a little bit more added pressure when you think about all the things and circumstances surrounding the game.

Where it was very simple back when I played. Either win the game or you don’t win the game. Today, you’ve got to build a brand. You’ve got to worry about what your numbers are in terms of what financial reward you’re going to get at the end of your contract. All these things will start to come into play, which, in essence, these guys have to gather all that information to come up with all these different analytics to determine how their business is going to be successful in relationship to what’s happening on the basketball court.

Now, that’s a little bit different from 20 years ago. Ultimately, all we cared about was, did I want to make Chicago Bulls the best team? Do I want to win a championship? If I win a championship, can I do it again? Can I maintain the same focus?”

Michael Jordan on Playing in Today’s NBA With Sports Betting—Social Media and Brand Building

So then, even the GOAT is happy he didn’t have to contend with the added pressures of social media, betting or branding. It’s a tough environment to navigate. And to MJ, it takes away from the game.

Jordan concludes, “Whereas today, you’ve got guys thinking about, well, I’ve got my brand coming out, my namesake or my logo, and all these other things, and I need to cater to that. That takes away from the team aspect, what the team focus may be. It’s a whole different component to this sport world right now, and I don’t envy that. I’m glad I was born at the time that I was born. Would I have acted differently? I’m very true to the game, so I don’t think I would have changed my perspective about the game. Opportunities may have changed outside the game, but in terms of my true passion for the game of basketball, I don’t think that would have changed.”

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