This week in 1984: Michael Jordan debuts with 16 points, 7 assists and 4 blocks as the Bulls beat the Bullets 109-93

Michael Jordan played his first NBA game on Friday, October 26, 1984, 42 years ago this week, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Washington Bullets 109-93 at Chicago Stadium. The rookie from North Carolina scored 16 points, a modest number for a player who would win 10 scoring titles, but his full line already showed a guard who could change a game in more ways than one.

A quiet line with loud details

Jordan started and played 40 minutes. He made only 5 of his 16 shots from the field and went 6 of 7 at the free-throw line. The rest of the box score was busier: six rebounds, seven assists, two steals and four blocked shots, a rare total for a 6-foot-6 guard. He also committed five turnovers, the price of a 21-year-old trying to do everything at once.

He was not the Bulls’ leading man that night. Orlando Woolridge scored a game-high 28 points on 13-of-19 shooting with nine rebounds, and Quintin Dailey added 25 off the bench on 12 of 18. Steve Johnson chipped in 18. For Washington, now the Wizards, Frank Johnson and Gus Williams scored 15 each, Rick Mahorn had 14 and Jeff Ruland finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. The listed crowd was 13,913, far from a sellout.

Why it mattered then

Chicago had gone 27-55 the season before under coach Kevin Loughery and had missed the playoffs in back-to-back years. Jordan arrived as the No. 3 pick of the 1984 draft, chosen by general manager Rod Thorn after Houston took Hakeem Olajuwon and Portland took Sam Bowie. He came off a summer in which he led the U.S. Olympic team in scoring at 17.1 points a game.

The same week, two other members of that draft class began more quietly. Charles Barkley, the No. 5 pick, had 11 points off the bench in Philadelphia’s win over Cleveland, and John Stockton, taken 16th by Utah, scored four with five assists in a loss to Seattle.

What it led to

The 16-point opener did not last as the measure of Jordan. In his third game he poured in 37 as Chicago edged Milwaukee 116-110, and about two weeks after the debut he put up 45 against San Antonio on 18-of-27 shooting. On February 2, 1985, he had 49 points and 15 rebounds against Detroit.

He started all 82 games, scored at least 17 points in 76 of them and finished third in the league at 28.2 points a game, with 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.4 steals on 51.5 percent shooting. He was named Rookie of the Year and made the All-NBA Second Team. The Bulls improved by 11 wins to 38-44 and returned to the playoffs, losing in the first round.

It was the first step of a career that brought Chicago six championships in the 1990s. On the night it began, the box score said Woolridge was the star. Within a month, nobody was saying that anymore.