Mike Tirico Fires Back At Criticism Of Michael Jordan's Performance on NBC

Andrew HolleranThu, September 17, 2026 at 2:00 AM UTC

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Michael Jordan was a part of NBC’s coverage of the NBA during the 2025-26 season.

The legendary NBA star stunned the sports media world when NBC announced that he would be joining the network’s coverage ahead of last season. However, fans were quickly disappointed, when they learned what Jordan’s role would be.

Jordan did a lengthy sit-down interview with NBC host Mike Tirico. NBC then cut up the interview and played it at various times throughout the season. Jordan was not in studio, doing analyst work, or reacting in realtime to anything that was really happening.

However, in a conversation with Front Office Sports Tonight’s Bridget Condon, Tirico pushed back on the criticism.

Michael Jordan on NBC.NBC.

Tirico made it clear that he thought it was fun and worthwhile.

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“It was fun. A lot of people took it and ran with what they thought it was going to be, when we never really said a lot of what it was going to be,” Tirico said. “It was just Michael talking about basketball. And Michael was terrific about it, too.”

While a second interview doesn’t appear to be imminent, Tirico thinks that it was still pretty valuable.

Tirico claps back at the critics

Tirico made it clear that he thought it was a worthwhile thing to do, interviewing the legendary NBA star, in any fashion.

“Michael hasn’t sat down with a lot of folks over the last 20 years, and I’m honored that we did it,” he said. “And I think if people look at the content of what was there, and not what their expectations were or the other stuff, I think they’d come away and say, ‘You know, it’s pretty interesting to hear what he said.’ So glad Michael did it. Lucky to have the time around him. And if he ever does it again, I hope I’m the guy on the other side of the couch. If not, I’ll be sitting there and listening to him; that’s for darn sure.”

NBC is hopeful that Jordan will return to network coverage in 2026-27, though it remains to be seen if NBA fans will be interested in another lengthy sitdown interview.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Sep 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Sports Media section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Sports”