Michael Jordan is the ultimate competitor, so it had to rub him the wrong way a little bit to know that the record he helped set back during the 1995-96 season with the Chicago Bulls is now no more. He can thank the Golden State Warriors for that historic mark falling by the wayside, and he sort of did just that.
In a statement that was released after the Warriors broke the record with their 73rd win this season, Jordan congratulated Golden State on a tremendous season and for breaking the record that the Bulls set 20 years ago. It was a classy gesture from, arguably, the greatest player in history.
From Diamond Leung, columnist for the Bay Area News Group:
“I want to congratulate the Warriors on their amazing season,” Jordan said in a statement. “The game of basketball is always evolving and records are made to be broken. The Warriors have been a lot of fun to watch and I look forward to seeing what they do in the playoffs.”
Some people are taking the latter half of this statement as a slight against the Warriors that they can’t actually repeat as champions, but you have to realize that he’s a basketball lover and probably is looking forward to their playoff run. That is up to your interpretation.
As argubly the greatest to ever do it, Jordan giving his personal congratulations to Golden State is pretty awesome. Whether in a statement or a tweet, you have to love the respect that he gave to the organization on an “amazing season” that they put together. Records are made to be broken, as he states, and that’s what happened.