Michael Jordan addresses rumours of gambling suspension during 'The Last Dance'

Former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan discussed how his father’s death influenced his decision to retire in 1993

NBA star Michael Jordan has addressed rumours concerning his retirement from professional basketball in 1993 during the latest episode of ‘The Last Dance’.

On Sunday night, Mr Jordan denied that he had been suspended from the NBA almost 27 years ago because of gambling habits.

At the time, some commentators suggested that the then Chicago Bulls star had ended his basketball career because of his behaviour, or that he had been secretly suspended by the league.

But now the 57-year-old has said that his decision to retire at the end of the 1993-94 NBA season was due to the death of his father.

In the latest episode of the NBA miniseries, ‘The Last Dance’, the former Chicago Bulls star said those rumours were not true.

“I didn’t retire because the league kicked me out or they suspended me for a year and a half,” said Mr Jordan on Sunday’s episode. “That is not true. There’s no truth to that”.

“I needed a break. My father just passed. And I retired. And I retired with the notion that I wasn’t going to come back,” said Mr Jordan.

His father, James Jordan, was murdered in 1993 after two 18-year-old men shot him and robbed him whilst he napped in his car on the side of the road, authorities determined at the time.

In an earlier episode of ‘The Last Dance’, the NBA star had described how his father was also his friend.

"We were very close," said the 57-year-old during the seventh episode of the show, in which family members and friends commented on the impact of the death on the star’s career.

On Sunday, interviews with the late NBA Commissioner David Stern and the league’s communications adviser Brian McIntyre were shown that backed Mr Jordan’s admission.

“The folklore, the urban legend that I sent him away because he was gambling,” said Mr Stern in the episode. “No basis in fact.”

Mr McIntyre meanwhile called the gambling claims “total bulls**t.”

Mr Jordan returned to the NBA at the end of the 1994-95 season, but admitted that he had been nervous without the support of his father.

"I was nervous. I hadn't played competitive in a long time," said the former NBA player on Sunday’s episode. "I felt naked because my father just wasn’t there. It seemed so different."

The final episode of the ESPN and Netflix series will air next Sunday.