Bob Costas: Michael Jordan’s ‘mere presence’ is a reason to watch NBA on NBC

Bob Costas doesn’t know how Michael Jordan will be used as a media personality, but Michael Jordan in any capacity is a win for NBC and for NBA fans.

The NBA on NBC returns this week from a 23-year hiatus. And few people are more closely associated with the brand’s history than Bob Costas and Michael Jordan. While Costas won’t reprise his role as one of the foremost voices of the NBA on NBC, the network was able to recruit Jordan to join the reboot.

Costas recently spoke to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports about Jordan’s highly anticipated debut for NBC. And while exact details around Jordan’s role with NBC remain scarce, Costas believes his addition can still be big for the network, and for basketball fans.

“I’m not 100% sure what NBC’s overall plan is for using him. I know he’s not going to be on every game and he’s not going to be in the normal sort of role of sitting there at the desk. I think they’ll use him more selectively than that. But keep this in mind: When Michael wants to be he’s a very thoughtful observer of the game, and he expresses himself very well. I mean, think of him on The Last Dance,” Costas said.

“And whenever he sat down for an interview, not the courtside interview as the game has just ended, but a real interview, whether it was with me or Ahmad [Rashad] or whomever—I mean, he didn’t do them every week, there were too many demands on his time—but when he did them, he was really good. And he didn’t give boilerplate answers. He was thoughtful about it. So I think he’ll be as good as he wants to be.”

NBC caught everyone by surprise when they announced Jordan’s addition as a special contributor to their NBA coverage. As much as Jordan has maintained an immense level of prominence in his retirement, he never showed much of an interest in joining the media. But if Jordan wants to talk, what basketball fan wouldn’t be eager to hear what he has to say?

“He’s Michael Jordan,” Costas told FOS. “If in 1995 Ted Williams said, ‘I’d like to go on-air and talk about hitting.’ Only an idiot would say, ‘No thank you.’ It’s hard to imagine, but let’s say Tiger Woods doesn’t play in The Masters or doesn’t make the cut, and then he says, ‘I want to do something on CBS during The Masters.’ Who wouldn’t listen?”

“His mere presence is a reason to stop and then put down the remote,” Costas added.

NBC has teased details about Jordan’s presence, recently announcing he will be featured in a segment titled, “MJ: Insights to Excellence.” It remains unclear how often Jordan will be featured on NBC throughout the season. But his NBC colleague Cris Collinsworth confidently stated NBA fans are going to get the full Michael Jordan experience. What that means exactly, we’re still not sure, but expectations are building.