
On February 14th, 1990 the Chicago Bulls lost to the hometown Orlando Magic 129-135 even with a 49 point performance by their shooting guard, #12. The no-name, bald-headed player shot 48.9% from the floor along with grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing 2 assists, all career highs. #12’s only game in the NBA was capped off with a fresh pair of Air Jordan 5 “Fire Red” sneakers on his feet. </sarcasm>
So as the story goes there before the Valentine’s Day game for the Bulls in Orlando a thief somehow snuck into the Bulls’ locker room just before the game and stole Michael Jordan’s jersey. A search of the arena and worker’s found no trace of the jersey. Even trying on a young fan’s replica Jordan jersey (imagine if that worked) as an alternative the equipment manager had to piece together a jersey using an extra jersey the team had in case of emergency. With no-name and 12 on the back, MJ played the game. Rumor is MJ wasn’t feeling the love after the Valentine’s Day game loss refusing to sign autographs. By the way if you find a pair of AJ5’s with 12 stitched on the side, they are fakes (unless Jordan Brand makes them one day).

[…] the only time Jordan wore a different number, but this signified a shift in the NBA. Jordan would go on to wear #45 for another 22 games, but it […]