Six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan will return to the spotlight this fall in his first broadcasting role as a special contributor in NBC’s revival of league coverage of the 2025-26 season.

The nature of his role remains unclear, although initial reports indicate that to start he will be featured in taped segments that air during pregames and halftimes.

The announcement has surprised DePaul students and others, as the Bulls legend has tended to err on the side of privacy since his retirement in 2003.

“It’s not something I ever thought he would do,” Justin Villarreal, Bulls fan and DePaul senior, said. “It’s exciting because obviously it’s going to be interesting to hear what a talent like Michael Jordan has to say about the NBA.”

During his 11-season stint with the Bulls, Jordan was a dominant force on the court. He helped the team bring home two three-peats, scoring 29,277 points for the team and earning him respect as one of the greatest athletes of all time. 

Robert Zogman, a Chicago native, recalls the buzz surrounding the superstar back in the day.

“Everybody idolized Jordan, even me, and I didn’t even follow basketball that closely,” Zogman said. “I was still paying attention. I mean, you couldn’t not because it was really something special.”

With a rainbow-haired Dennis Rodman and reliable Scottie Pippen by his side, Jordan broke all kinds of records. In the 1995-96 season, the Bulls had perhaps one of the greatest NBA seasons of all time, finishing with a record of 72-10, making them the first team to ever get past the 70-win mark.

For Zogman, Jordan’s impact can be compared to another big name, the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark.

“The way she makes people interested (in the WNBA) now, that’s what Michael Jordan did to the NBA,” Zogman said. “It’s the same thing only, like, times 100; he made the world interested.”

As great as that period was for the Bulls, Villarreal said it’s time for the current organization to stop riding on Jordan’s coattails and open a new chapter.

“You can’t just keep relying on the ‘90s. You gotta bring the ‘90s Bulls to today,” said Villarreal, who was born after the Jordan era.

Since 1998, the championship banners hung up in the United Center have been collecting more dust than glory, as the Bulls have struggled to get back on top.

Last season, they ended with a 39-43 record, losing to the Miami Heat in the play-in for the third consecutive season after falling as many as 24 points behind in just the first half.

Gustavo Arriaga, a Bulls fan and DePaul junior, echoed Villarreal’s frustration with the team.

“It feels like we are in purgatory,” Arriaga said. “Always good enough to contend for a play-in spot, never good enough to do anything else.”

The stats don’t lie. Over the past decade, the team’s average finish has been 10th in the Eastern conference and they are seldom above .500 after the first few games of the season.

“You should be paying people to watch this team, quite frankly,” Villarreal continued.

With a 1.75% chance of getting the number one pick in this year’s draft lottery, fans weren’t too optimistic about the Bulls chances. However, as the event unfolded in the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago on May 12, people soon learned that the Dallas Mavericks, who had a 1.8% chance at first pick, are first in line to get Duke star Cooper Flagg, one of the top prospects.

As it turns out, the Bulls were a coin toss — or a missed Josh Giddey buzzer beater — away from being in the Mavericks’ shoes.

The Mavs and Bulls finished with identical records last season. Back in November, they played a tiebreaker to decide which team would have the slightly better odds. The Bulls lost, leaving fans wondering if it may have cost them the star they needed.

“I was beyond upset. It sums up the Bulls’ luck and where we are as a franchise at this moment,” Arriaga said. 

Stuck with the No. 12 pick, the team will have to make do with who they can get.

Last year with the 11th pick, they selected Matas Buzelis, who had a decent season, averaging 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

For a while now, fans have been calling for a resignation of Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls’ owner. Villarreal feels there needs to be a change, adding that he doesn’t “trust in this current front office’s vision for the team.”

It’s clear that the current Bulls are a far cry from the days when Air Jordan was making clutch shots and helping bring rings to Chicago. The ‘90s high is starting to wear off.

“I don’t think we would have this big of a fan base if it weren’t for that championship team,” Arriaga said. “It feels like (we’ve) been relying off that run.”

As Jordan opens a new chapter, the fans think the Bulls should do the same.

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