Getting Started: The Question
Fi.derst off, I had to define what "played against" really means. Does it mean just being in the league at the same time? Or does it mean they actually faced off on the court, like in a specific game? And which Hall of Fame? Gotta be the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the big one. And I decided to focus just on players inducted as players for their NBA careers, to keep things slightly less complicated.
The Grind: Finding the Names
So, the first thing I did was list out Jordan's active years. That's 1984 to 1993, then the comeback from 1995 to 1998, and finally the Wizards years, 2001 to 2003. Got that down.
Next, I needed a list of Hall of Fame players. Found a pretty comprehensive list online easily enough. This part was simple searching.
Then came the real work. I had to cross-reference the two lists. I went through the Hall of Fame list, player by player, checking their active NBA years. Did their time in the league overlap with any of MJ's stints?
This took a while. I basically had two browser windows open, one with the HoF list and one with player career summaries. It was a lot of back-and-forth checking dates.Making the List (and Checking It Twice)
As I found overlaps, I started jotting down names.
- Magic Johnson? Yep, big overlap in the late 80s/early 90s.
- Larry Bird? Same deal.
- Isiah Thomas? Oh yeah, definitely. Pistons vs. Bulls was huge.
- Charles Barkley? For sure, even faced him in the Finals.
- Karl Malone and John Stockton? Yep, two Finals series right there.
- Hakeem Olajuwon? Absolutely.
- David Robinson? Yep.
- Patrick Ewing? A classic rival.
- Clyde Drexler? Faced him in the Finals too.
The list kept growing. I found guys from Jordan's early years like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (though near the end of his career), Julius Erving (also tail end), George Gervin, Adrian Dantley.
Then there were contemporaries through his prime: Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman (teammate later, but opponent first).
And even guys who came in later or overlapped with his Wizards years: Shaquille O'Neal (though they played earlier too), Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen (as an opponent late), even guys like Ray Allen and Jason Kidd were in the league during MJ's second comeback. Had to think about Allen Iverson too.
Refining and Counting
Now, I had to be a bit practical. Did I verify every single player actually shared court time in a specific game against MJ? Honestly, no. That would mean digging through thousands of box scores. I made an assumption: if a Hall of Fame player's active years significantly overlapped with Jordan's, and they were prominent players, it's almost certain they played against each other multiple times. Good enough for me.
I didn't count players inducted for international careers unless they also played in the NBA during MJ's time (like Sarunas Marciulionis, maybe? Had to check that). I mostly stuck to the main NBA player inductees.
So, I went through my scribbled list, double-checked the induction status and years again. It's easy to miss someone or count someone who maybe wasn't inducted as a player primarily for their NBA time.
The Final Tally (Kind Of)
After all that checking and re-checking, the number I landed on was pretty darn high. It was easily over 20, maybe closer to 30 or even more depending on how strictly you count the overlaps, especially with the Wizards years. I saw different numbers floating around online when I peeked later, which makes sense because people use slightly different rules. Did they play one game? Multiple? Prime vs. Prime?
It's impressive, though. Thinking about the sheer volume of elite, top-tier talent Jordan had to go up against night after night, year after year. Guys like Bird, Magic, Isiah, Hakeem, Ewing, Barkley, Malone, Stockton... the list just goes on and on.
It really puts his dominance into perspective. It wasn't like he was playing against nobodies. He was beating legends on his way to titles.
So yeah, that was my little research rabbit hole. Just started with a simple question and ended up spending a good chunk of time digging through basketball history. It was kinda fun, actually. The final exact number isn't even the main point for me; it's realizing the incredible concentration of Hall of Fame talent playing during that era. Wild stuff.
