The NBA GOAT pulled the ultimate finesse after sitting down with NBC for one interview, collected a big paycheck, and didn’t commit to anything beyond that. Right now, Michael Jordan has no follow-ups planned — just one prerecorded conversation chopped into bits and spread across the season.
A satirical post from parody account @BallsackSports took the story nuclear, claiming NBC paid Jordan $80 million for a single sit-down. The real number sits closer to $10-20 million, which is still wild money for minimal work.
Such an exaggerated figure played on MJ’s legendary gambling habit with the line “NBC gambled and lost.” They hyped Jordan as their marquee special contributor, then realized they had one interview’s worth of content to carry an entire broadcast year.
Michael Jordan Declines Further Interviews with NBC
NBC’s Mike Tirico confirmed this week that no more Jordan interviews are coming. The worst part? They have nothing in their plans either. The network is using footage from one interview session filmed in September 2025 during the Ryder Cup. The conversation lasted about two hours over two days, and NBC has been stretching it across the season.
The “MJ: Insights to Excellence” segments started airing in October, giving fans bite-sized clips during halftimes and studio shows. Each drop reminded viewers they were watching recycled material from the same interview.
Michael Jordan has declined further interviews with NBA on NBC.
Jordan was paid $80 million to film an hour long sit down interview in 2025.
NBC gambled and lost. pic.twitter.com/HRPRvkf6bb
— Ballsack Sports (@BallsackSports) January 16, 2026
Tirico confirmed the reality during his appearance on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast. When asked about future Jordan content, he replied, “Nothing scheduled as of now that I know of, but it is a possibility.”
However, the limited scope wasn’t entirely on Jordan. He showed up as promies, spoke candidly, and offered his perspective. NBC is the one that oversold the partnership without securing repeat appearances. They bet that a single interview could carry an entire season, and it didn’t, as fans noticed right away. Every time a segment aired, social media filled with the same comment, penning, “This is from the same interview.”
Mike Tirico Defends Jordan’s Limited NBC Role
Tirico likely assumed the heat was coming. During the podcast, he addressed the criticism head-on while defending the value of what NBC secured. His take? Getting Jordan to talk at all was the win, regardless of format limitations.
“Michael doesn’t talk much, as you know,” Tirico explained. “Michael still has so many interests in the game, business interests, with a piece of the Hornets and obviously his involvement with Jordan Brand. There’s so much involved there.”
Then he made it clear who controlled the conversation’s direction, saying, “Are there a ton of topics you’d love to get to? Of course, but Michael really wanted to talk about where he sees the game right now and we haven’t heard a lot of that. So it was interesting, it was fun, it was good perspective.”
He continued, “My takeaway was how much he cares about the games still. He loves the game and, in some regards, doesn’t love some of the direction of the game, and he wanted to talk about it.”
The network now faces a choice of either securing another interview or accepting that Jordan’s NBC run was a one-time event stretched too thin. Tirico hinted at hope for future sessions. And it would be better not to expect more from MJ because he is not changing his mind.
