Michael Jordan revealed which NBA title was the hardest to win after suffering family tragedy

Michael Jordan named the toughest NBA championship among the six that he won in his illustrious career.

Drafted in 1984 by the Chicago Bulls, MJ became an instant star in a league alongside star players like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Jordan hit stardom early on after securing his signature shoe brand deal, which made a few big names jealous with the superstar frozen out at his first All-Star game.

It took the Jumpman seven years after coming into the league to win his first championship and it came by beating Johnson's LA Lakers in the NBA Finals.

He won two-more titles in the following years to secure a three-peat and write his name in the history books. But after winning three rings Jordan decided to retire from the NBA and pursue a baseball career.

The Hall of Famer was not able to make an MLB appearance, but enjoyed his time as a baseball player before returning back to the NBA 18 months later.

There were a lot of speculations about his retirement, but he put that all to bed by returning better than ever and winning three more championships in a row.

Michael Jordan's hardest NBA championship

Winning a championship is extremely hard and Jordan won six in his time with the Bulls, which is a testament to his greatness.

But he revealed the 1996 championship was the hardest one for him to achieve because it came after a huge personal loss and a second round defeat at the hands of the Orlando Magic in 1995.

"The '96 was probably the toughest one. I was coming from a defeat in '95 when I played baseball," said Jordan in an interview with ABC.

"Everyone thought I was step slower, so I had to prove myself. My father, it was the first time I actually done it without my father.

"So I mean, all these emotions and all these different things are coming at me. To me, that was the most difficult if I had to pick the six."

Jordan and his relationship with his father

Jordan was extremely close to his father, James Jordan, and he was with him throughout his NBA career before he died in 1993.

Just months before his death, Jordan won his third championship and shared a warm embrace with his father.

His decided to retire from the game in October 1993 and although he never confirmed the reason behind it, Jordan also said he needed time to deal with the loss. He then went and played baseball before making his way back into the league in 1995.

"The thing that I look at the death of my father, unfortunately, you know, [is that] it happened at the hands of another human being, which, in essence, it's very difficult to deal with, just the notion of being able to kill someone." said the six-time NBA champion in an 2005 interview with Ed Bradley.

The murder of Jordan's father

James Jordan was missing for days and his body was later found in Gum Swamp Creek in South Carolina. His car, a red Lexus gifted by Jordan, was stripped and broken in to with all signs leading to a robbery.

After a large investigation it became clear that Jordan's father had stopped the car on the side to take some rest when two teens shot him before robbing the 56-year-old and disposing of his body.

Two childhood friends, Larry Demery and Daniel Green, were given life sentences for the crime.

In 2024, Northern Carolina judge Gregory Weeks, who handed life sentences to both Demery and Green, petitioned the state's parole commission to release the latter.

Weeks told the commission that a key finding from the investigation was not disclosed at the time. There have been no developments in the case as of yet.