Jordan was voted as an All-Star starter during his rookie season in his early NBA years (1984-1987)
Jordan was chosen third overall in the 1984 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, ahead of Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers). One of the main reasons Jordan was not drafted sooner was that the first two teams needed a center. Trail Blazers general manager Stu Inman argued that it was not so much a matter of drafting a center as it was of selecting Bowie over Jordan, in part because Portland already had Clyde Drexler, a guard with similar skills to Jordan. ESPN named Bowie's selection by the Blazers as the worst draft pick in North American professional sports history, citing his injury-laden college career.
Jordan made his NBA debut on October 26, 1984, at Chicago Stadium, scoring 16 points. A ticket stub from the game sold at auction for $264,000 in 2021, breaking the record for a collectible ticket stub. Jordan averaged 28.2 points per game on 51.5 percent shooting as a rookie with the Bulls in 1984-85, helping a team that had won 35% of its games the previous three seasons become a playoff contender. Even in opposing arenas, he immediately became a crowd favorite.
Jordan was voted as an All-Star starter during his rookie season in his early NBA years (1984-1987). In November, The New York Times' Roy S. Johnson characterized him as "the phenomenal rookie of the Bulls", and Jordan appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "A Star Is Born" in December. During his rookie season, fans also chose Jordan as an All-Star starter. Before the 1985 NBA All-Star Game, rumors spread that numerous older players, led by Isiah Thomas, were unhappy with the amount of attention Jordan was receiving. This resulted in a Jordan "freeze-out," in which players refused to send the ball to him throughout the game. Jordan was generally unfazed by the controversy when he returned to regular season play, and he went on to be named NBA Rookie of the Year. The Bulls finished the season 38-44 and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Milwaukee Bucks in four games.
