23 for 23: The Sun-Times’ greatest Michael Jordan stories

On Sunday, “The Last Dance,” a 10-part documentary series focused on the final year of the 90’s Bulls dynasty that won six NBA titles in eight years, premieres, with Michael Jordan as its star.

Jordan’s former teammates and opponents, including Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Gary Payton and Isiah Thomas are all interviewed in the series. So are Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and former Bulls coach Phil Jackson, and a host of journalists who covered the 1990s Bulls. A former state senator by the name of Barack Obama, who says he was a huge fan of the team but couldn’t even afford nosebleed seats at the time, also makes an appearance.

The documentary was originally scheduled to be released in June during the NBA Finals, but ESPN made the decision to accelerate its release due to the lack of live sports programming because of the coronavirus pandemic. The series has been billed to include never-before-seen footage from that season, during which the team chased its sixth championship.

To celebrate the release of “The Last Dance,” we pulled open our archives to look back at stories covering Jordan’s greatest challenges and triumphs.