In Jordan's first season at North Carolina he was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Rookie of the Year for 1982. The team won the ACC championship, and Jordan made the clutch jump shot that beat Georgetown University for the championship of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Jordan led the ACC in scoring as a sophomore and as a junior. The Sporting News named him college player of the year for both years. He left North Carolina after his junior year and was selected by the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as the third pick of the 1984 draft. Before joining the Bulls, Jordan was a member of the Summer 1984 United States Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal in Los Angeles, California.
When Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls they were a losing team, drawing only around six thousand fans to home games. Jordan quickly turned that around. His style of play and fierce spirit of competition reminded sportswriters and fans of Julius Erving (1950–), who had been a superstar player during the 1970s. Jordan's incredible leaping ability and hang time thrilled fans in arenas around the league. In his first season he was named to the All-Star team and was later honored as the league's Rookie of the Year.
A broken foot sidelined Jordan for 64 games during the 1985–86 season, but he
returned to score 49 points against the Boston Celtics in the first game of the playoffs and 63 in the second game—an NBA playoff record. The 1986–87 season was again one of individual successes, and Jordan started in the All-Star game after receiving a record 1.5 million votes. He became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain (1936–1999) to score 3,000 points in a single season. Jordan enjoyed personal success, but Chicago did not advance beyond the first round of the playoffs until 1988. Jordan concentrated on improving his other basketball skills, and in 1988 he was named Defensive Player of the Year. He was also named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) and became the first player to lead the league in both scoring and steals. He was again named MVP in that year's All-Star game.
6× NBA Champion(1991,1992,1993,1996,1997,1998)
5× NBA Most Valuable Player(1988,1991–1992,1996,1998)
14× NBA All-Star (1985–1993, 1996–1998, 2002–2003)
6× NBA Finals MVP (1991–1993, 1996–1998)
10× NBA scoring champion (1987–1993, 1996–1998)
3× NBA steals champion (1988, 1990, 1993)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1988)
10× All-NBA First Team (1987–1993, 1996–1998)
All-NBA Second Team (1985)
9× NBA All-Defensive First Team(1988–1993,1996–1998)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1985)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1985)
3× NBA All-Star Game MVP (1988, 1996, 1998)
2× NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion (1987–1988)
NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
#23 Retired by Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat
NCAA Champion (1982)2× Consensus NCAA All-American First Team