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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the 1996 Chicago Bulls, and their impact on my early basketball fandom.
30 years ago yesterday, the Chicago Bulls wrapped up the 1996 NBA Championship with an 87-75 victory over the Seattle Supersonics. It’s overwhelming to think that three decades have passed since the end of that iconic 1996 season, which saw the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan ascend to the top of the basketball world once more. To put it into perspective, at this point the Bulls’ fourth title is closer to the Boston Celtics’ eleventh title than it is to today. In other words, Michael Jordan is to young basketball fans nowadays what Bill Russell was to me back in 1996.
Allow me to pause for a moment to deal with the existential dread of realising that! With that being said, 2026 marking the 30th anniversary of anything that happened in 1996 has had me feeling warmly nostalgic for that time. After all, 1996 was the year that my casual interest in basketball became fully-fledged fandom – some might even say an obsession – and the Chicago Bulls winning the championship was undoubtedly a huge part of that. And so, this week I’m reflecting on both my basketball fandom, and one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Let’s take a look back…way back…
While the NBA had exploded in popularity during the 80s and definitely gone global prior to Michael Jordan’s 1993 retirement, his return in 1995 sparked a second boom in interest; especially with people my age here in Australia. I remember that in 1995, it became a mid-morning ritual for the boys who were the biggest basketball fans in my class to eye their digital watches and then stick out their tongues and mime a dunk when it hit 9:23:45, and then again at 9:45:23. It was Michael Jordan O’clock, those digits obviously representing his numbers with Team USA and the Chicago Bulls. Was it silly? Yes, but it was a fun and harmless way to celebrate a love of basketball!
At that point, I was still more of a casual fan, so I didn’t religiously participate in the ritual myself. However, my interest was definitely heating up, and caught fire when I bought the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition in January 1996. Along with basketball cards, that game – despite its over-the-top arcade action – was instrumental in teaching me about the stars and other notable names of the day. In the weeks that followed, my enthusiasm for basketball grew with every game that I played on the virtual hardwood. On March 6th, my friends and I were challenged to a game by a group of girls at lunchtime. Soon, basketball became our activity of choice at school.
And of course, I began catching games and highlights from the current season. I was, in a way, already a fan of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls before I began really taking an interest in basketball in 1996. He was the player I was most familiar with even before I knew much else about basketball, and since Bulls merch was the most popular and easy to find here in Australia, I already had some including at least one t-shirt. Obviously, a lot of people were jumping on the Chicago Bulls bandwagon in 1996, and I’m part of that wave. Still, looking back to my days as a more casual fan of hoops, it seems inevitable that as my interest grew, the Bulls would become my team.
The Chicago Bulls entered the 1996 season determined to get back on top. Michael Jordan’s return in March 1995 was certainly exciting, and led to a strong finish as they went 13-4 in the 17 games that he played. After dispensing with the Charlotte Hornets in four games in the first round of the Playoffs, the Bulls would find themselves in a tough battle with the Orlando Magic; then considered the “Team of the Future”, led by Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway. It’s the series that demonstrated that MJ wasn’t quite yet back to form, even after infamously switching back to his iconic #23 midway through. To that point though, it ultimately set up a great redemption story.
Chicago’s efforts to shore up the roster for a proper run at another championship with Michael Jordan on board from the beginning of the year began with the acquisition of Dennis Rodman. The Worm had worn out his welcome in San Antonio, and while that was in no small part due to his behaviour, it can be argued that Bob Hill and Gregg Popovich fumbled the situation with a disciplinarian approach. As a result, the Bulls were able to acquire the league’s best rebounder in exchange for Will Perdue, which was an absolute steal of a deal. Bad blood from Rodman’s days as one of the Bad Boy Pistons necessitated some apologies, but Jordan and Pippen ultimately supported it.
However, they did lose starting point guard B.J. Armstrong to the Toronto Raptors in the Expansion Draft. As it turned out, Ron Harper was willing and able to tailor his game to play alongside Michael Jordan in the backcourt, and of course the triangle offense doesn’t require a traditional point guard. Nevertheless, it thinned the Bulls’ roster, and they lost Armstrong’s steady shooting and playmaking. Indeed, when you look at the 1996 Chicago Bulls’ roster, it’s hardly the strongest or deepest lineup top to bottom. Sure, they had the best two-way one-two punch in the NBA in Jordan and Pippen, and Rodman made them a Big 3, but they were in no way a stacked team.
Mind you, when you have Michael Jordan in his prime and back in form, a superb sidekick in Scottie Pippen, a motivated Dennis Rodman, a steady Sixth Man in Toni Kukoc, and capable role players whose skills are maximised by the triangle, you have a team that’s better than the sum of its parts! To that end, the Bulls won five straight games to open the season, before losing a rematch with the Orlando Magic. It didn’t take them long to rebound though, as they won another five in a row before a loss to the Seattle Supersonics; their eventual NBA Finals opponent. After that, they won 13 in a row, followed by an 18-game winning streak that included going 14-0 in January.
Speaking of streaks, the 1996 Chicago Bulls only lost two consecutive games once during the regular season. The remainder of their losses are dotted in between them racking up win after win. They still hold the record for the best three-loss start, as they won 41 games before losing their third. Their 37-0 start at the United Center was also part of a 44-game home winning streak, going back to the previous season. As the year wore on, there was increased speculation that they’d become the first team to win 70 games. On April 16th, they achieved that with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Their record of 72-10 stood for 20 years, until the Golden State Warriors went 73-9.
In terms of numbers and awards, the Chicago Bulls simply dominated the 1996 season. On top of the aforementioned winning streaks and 72-10 record, Jordan won his eighth scoring title, putting up 30.4 ppg. Rodman was the rebound king once more, averaging 14.9 per game. MJ was the regular season and All-Star Game MVP. Toni Kukoc was the Sixth Man of the Year, while Phil Jackson won his first Coach of the Year award. Jordan and Pippen were All-NBA First Team, and they were joined by Rodman on the All-Defensive First Team. The Bulls were first in points per game, third-best in points allowed, and topped the league in offensive and defensive rating.
Their dominance continued in the postseason, as they swept the new-look Miami Heat with Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway with three blowout victories. A familiar foe in the New York Knicks met them in the second round, and while they handed the Bulls their first loss of the 1996 Playoffs, MJ and company finished off the series in five at home in Chicago. This set up a rematch with the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls swept the Magic to advance to the NBA Finals, with MJ deliberately missing a free throw late in Game 4 to finish with 45 points; a nod to Nick Anderson declaring that 45 wasn’t as good as 23 during their series in 1995!
The final obstacle between the Chicago Bulls and their fourth championship was the Seattle Supersonics, whose 1996 season was also the best in franchise history. The teams had split the season series 1-1, and Seattle also boasted a second round sweep over the defending champion Houston Rockets. Though the Bulls won Game 1 by 17 and prevailed by four points in Game 2, Shawn Kemp outscored MJ 61-57 through the first two contests. A 22-point victory put the Bulls up 3-0, but the Sonics won the next two games by 21 and 11 points, sending the series back to Chicago. The Game 4 blowout by the Sonics notably featured The Reignman’s big reverse dunk on Rodman.
It’s interesting to go back and watch the pre-game of Game 6 of the 1996 NBA Finals. While the Bulls weren’t exactly being written off, the story coming into the game was of the Supersonics’ momentum from winning Games 3 and 4, and whether Chicago’s incredible season might just end in disappointment. It demonstrates that hot takes and prisoner-of-the-moment narratives aren’t a recent thing! In all fairness of course, it was as vulnerable as the Bulls had looked all season. Besides, some fans had their own bad take: that the Bulls had lost on purpose in order to win the title at home. I didn’t believe that as a kid, and I don’t believe it now! The Sonics were just that good.
Unfortunately for Seattle fans, the Bulls were ultimately better, as they won Game 6 to put a bow on a season for the ages. I remember coming home from school 30 years ago and watching the game on tape. I remember how exciting it felt to see an NBA Championship be decided for the first time since becoming a hardcore fan, especially as it was my favourite team that was victorious! I remember Michael Jordan falling to the court clutching the basketball, and the emotion in his voice as he dedicated the title to his late father. There was no turning back. From that point on, I was hooked on hoops, and the Bulls would remain my team, even decades after The Last Dance.
By winning 72 games in the regular season and storming through the Playoffs to the title with a 15-3 record, the 1996 Chicago Bulls solidified their place as one of the best teams in NBA history. They certainly have a claim for the top spot, with the 2016 Warriors falling short of a title after winning 73 games. For me personally, although I followed the 1997 and 1998 seasons even more closely and knew more about hoops, the 1996 season is truly special. It’s when I fell fully in love with basketball, and the first time I got to experience the joy of seeing my team win. I enjoy watching games and highlights from the first threepeat, but there’s no firsthand nostalgia for me there.
Ironically, the 1996 Chicago Bulls are better-represented as a classic team in modern video games than they were in contemporary titles! With Michael Jordan retaining the rights to his name and likeness, he’s absent from all of the 1996 season games. Some titles have a Roster Player in his place, and of course entering his name in Edit Player in the 16-bit versions of NBA Live 96 will automatically fill in his details; something the NBA was not pleased about! He could also be created in the PC version of NBA Live 96, and that was something I did pretty much as soon as I got the game. When I discovered the NLSC and modding, adding MJ to the roster was even more satisfying.
While it’s a shame that younger fans and pundits have made it a mission to dump on past eras, for those of us who were there and experienced the 1996 season, it was a special time in the NBA. There’s a reason that I’ve been moved to create 1996 season mods for two games now, and wouldn’t be against making one for a third! Again, the 1997 and 1998 campaigns were also a blast for a Chicago Bulls fan and I’m extremely nostalgic for them too, but that 1996 team represents a unique and joyful milestone in my fandom. Beyond my personal nostalgia, from the highlights to the numbers to the banner hanging in the United Center, the 1996 Chicago Bulls truly are legendary.
