All this footage of Jordan at his apex is his shield against time, a bulletproof defense of his legacy. The Last Dance isnt the first attempt hes made to defend his place in the public imagination, nor is it the first time his return to the spotlight has intersected with global tragedy. The day before 9/11, a 38-year-old Jordan, who stewed for years in annoyance at the attention that younger stars such as Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter were receiving during his second retirement, played a pickup game in Chicago. To the three reporters who were in attendance, Jordan hinted at another comeback. News of the tease wouldnt be printed until the day of the attacks, when American life instantly changed. He made the official announcement two weeks later, but, playing for the nations capital in all his faded glory, Jordans return hardly struck the right tone. Amid such widespread, collective trauma, the power of celebrity didnt have much pull, especially given his deteriorated physical prowess.

This time around, hes returned as a much-needed distraction, not an enfeebled one. And hes back not as a player, but as a parableone that is unconcerned with how Jordan, the person, has aged. Hes been buffeted by time in the 21st century, becoming a disembodied face of meme culture and witnessing the dominance of a basketball phenom in James, who has come perilously close to matching Jordans on-court accomplishments. Its likely no coincidence that Jordan signed off on using the footage in a documentary, after years of holding off, on the same day that James celebrated his third title at the Cleveland Cavaliers championship parade in 2016.

I imagine Jordan at peace. The Last Dance offers his commentary on his own legacy in a way hes never shared beforethe final word on his self-contained empire. I imagine it is thrilling for him to see, once again, the most astounding aspect of his game: his levitation, and, by extension, his mastery of time. The series third and fourth installments, which aired last night, dove into that particular gift of Jordans through the lens of the Bulls rivalry with the Detroit Pistons, undoubtedly the most intense of his career. We are reintroduced to the Jordan Rules, a brutalizing defensive scheme that the Pistons deployed to keep Jordan grounded. The teams center John Salley explains in the documentary succinctly: You have to stop him before he takes flight, cause you know hes not human.

Of course, it didnt work for long. You can measure the passage of time in Jordans career by the distinct ways he toyed with defenders. In his younger days, he suspended himself in the air several beats longer than anyone else in the league, waiting for the oppositions guard to drop before releasing the shot. In his latter days, he floated away from them, perfecting his signature turnaround jumper by influencing his defenders decisions using directional fakes, before drifting aside to create an unguardable pocket of space in which to shoot. The older he got, the more patience he had. So, perhaps in the Jordan oeuvre, The Last Dance is what follows the fadeaway. Its Jordan on offense, just like the good old days.

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The Mythos of Michael Jordan Continues - The Atlantic