The Story of Michael Jordan and the 1983 Pan Am Games

With the NBA lockout currently going on, the NBA and USA Basketball had no choice but to send the NBDL’s best players to Mexico to represent them in the Pan American Games. While most Americans, don’t pay attention to international basketball until FIBA World Championships and the Olympics, the 1983 team gave them a reason to. Led by Michael Jordan, this team went on to go undefeated as they captured the gold medal. Before he was the greatest player of all time, he was a 20 year old rising guard from the University of North Carolina. Teammates recall that from the first day he was about business and bringing back the gold from the first practice to when they first set foot upon Athletes’ Village, what was constructed of it. Jordan would go on to average 17.3 points over the eight games and showed his closing ability during the gold medal game against Puerto Rico by scoring 14 of his 16 in the second half to pull away. This team is probably one of the more impressive collections of talent ever in USA Basketball history considering the fact that a group of college kids were able to dominate groups of men with ease. Head over to the NBA for the full feature on the 1983 Pan Am Games team and stick with Jordans Daily for more Jordan related news.