Jordan: Who's Next?

By Arnie Katz

The retirement of Michael Jordan will cost the National Basketball Association more than just its greatest talent. Widely recognized as a "players’ league," even in the wake of the lockout, the NBA regarded Jordan as its flagship, its symbol and the embodiment of its prestige.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did a lot for pro basketball when they moved their collegiate rivalry to the NBA, but Jordan helped give the league’s image a needed facelift. Now the NBA wonders if there’s anyone in the wings, waiting to "Be Like Mike."

Some media speculation has focused on Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing. All are superb athletes, but age is against all of them. It takes some time to rev up the hype, and it wouldn’t be smart to make that investment in a player who might retire in a season or two. All four are all-time greats, and highly collectible, but none figures to take the torch from MJ.

Kobe Bryant is one possibility. At 19, he has already shown he can play with the best, and his LA Lakers are set to contend for the next five or six years. Someday, we may talk of Kobe and Michael in the same breath, but the youngster still has kinks in his game, and his personality needs work. He’s one to watch, but his time has not yet arrived.

Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant’s teammate, is a much more likely choice for Jordan’s immediate successor as NBA standard-bearer. He’s the star of a major-market franchise and has already made his mark in other media.

Shaq-daddy has also shown some civic spirit. His charitable works and those anti-drunk driving ads are building a good image. He could be the NBA’s symbol for the millennium.

Grant Hill is an outstanding individual and a fine player. He would be the consensus choice among NBA executives if character was the only factor. Hill is articulate, sensitive, and engagingly modest, but he would probably have to relocate to a media capital to take Jordan’s outlet pass to the league’s top spot.

Keith Van Horn of the New Jersey Nets is in a similar position. If he continues to elevate his game every season, and the Nets reverse a generation of futility, he’s a candidate. Otherwise, he’s a tremendous talent, but definitely not The Man.

So the question lingers: Who’s next? Whoever ultimately dons the mantle of Jordan’s leadership will have to prove it on the court as well as off. What fun for basketball fans to watch them try!

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Arnie Katz is Editor-in-Chief of the Collecting Channel at http://www.collectingchannel.com.

The preceding material was written by Arnie Katz. These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.