NBC SPORTS brings the NBA back to NBC after two decades. MJ will give NBA basketball balance sports reporting for the first time in decades. Watch how quiet the experts will get with the return of MJ. Especially, those he kicked under the bus.

Michael Jordan is joining NBC Sports as a special contributor for its NBA coverage, for the 2025 season. His role will include appearing in a series called “Insight into Excellence,” features will include interviews with host Mike Tirico. Jordan will provide commentary during the network’s broadcasts of NBA games.  

Oscar Robertson’s “All-Time NBA Team” included Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Stephen Curry (he was being diplomatic). My official team consists of Wilt, MJ, Elgin, West, and Oscar. They are my All-Time “GOATES” of the NBA. MJ and Oscar are the only two living GOATES!

My second team would be comprised of Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Gus Johnson, Magic Johnson, and, Earl ‘The Pear’ Monroe (He revolutionized guard play). Pistol Pete Mavarich was great, but he followed Earl’s dazzling act of now you see me and now you don’t! My coach, Red Auerbach.

Red, and I discuss the NBA with Earl Lloyd, Pop Gates and Bighouse Gaines via telephone.

I watched ‘Showtime’ originate in Baltimore in the late 60s, with Wes Unsel, Gus, and Earl, leading the fast break. ‘Dancing’ Harry moved to his own beat on the sidelines. In 1971, the Bullets traded Earl Monroe to the New York Knicks after they refused his salary demands.

My media credential became official in 1972, when I debuted with my pioneering “Inside Sports” talk show in Washington, DC on W-O-O-K Radio.

Earl would lead the Knicks to an NBA championship in 1973. The Washington Bullets/Wizards would not win their first and only NBA Championship until 1978. With the present day charade taking place in DC , it is possible the Wizards won’t see another NBA title until 2078.

WHUR Radio talk show host Ron Sutton, and I share a laugh at the segregated Washington Bullets press table before they moved to Washington, DC. They dropped the Bullets and became the Washington Wizards.

In 1984, when MJ made his rookie debut, he wowed the league. He averaged 28 points a game, and his best was yet to come. He would become a household name, winning 6 NBA Championships.

In 2010, MJ became the first NBA player to own a team, the Charlotte Hornets. He brought the team from the first black majority owner, Bob Johnson. In 2023, he sold his stake in the team.

MJ is joining NBC Sports, just in time for the NBA 2025-26 season. He will be part of the network’s coverage which is returning to NBC after a long absence. While the specifics of his role haven’t been fully detailed, it’s been described as a “special contributor” role. 

He is definitely the NEW SHERIFF in the NBA broadcasting booth. He will shut down all talk of GOAT pretenders, and the hollering of screaming of ESPN’s biggest frauds, Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon.

Remember John Feinstein, Wilbon’s colleague at the Washington Post said, “Michael Wilbon is the biggest ass kisser in sports media.” Wilbon, is the author of two books written on the NBA journey of NBA Hall of Fame player, Charles Barkley. Despite Wilbon’s kissing up , MJ kept his distant.

This isn’t the first time Wilbon has been called out for “sucking up” to athletes (he has written books with Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan). Michael Leahy of the Post beautifully deconstructed Jordan in When Nothing Else Matters: Michael Jordan’s Last Comeback, and in the process took a shot at Wilbon.

“All along, I thought that Wilbon’s treatment of Jordan highlighted the basic danger in getting too cozy with a subject,” Mr. Leahy writes. The access that Mr. Wilbon prized, Mr. Leahy argues, came at the cost of never being able to write something critical about his celebrity subject.

What they don’t do well is take criticism from colleagues. They’ll definitely make the thin-skinned sports media member list (This paragraph is an understatement). The best objective way to describe Wilbon and Korhisner, “They have no balls or integrity!”

I missed the initial viewing of ESPN’s Out Side the Lines aired on Sunday February 23rd. The show hosted by Bob Levy examined the use of the N word. I heard from several different sources that Michael Wilbon lost a lot of credibility when he justified his use of the N word as a term of endearment.

Since I had not seen or heard the show, I held back judgment and waited until it re-aired on Sunday March 2nd.

It is rather ironic that Wilbon, and I had a recent conversation about the use of the N word. The conversation took place in the pressroom before a Wizard’s game at the Verizon Center. He told me ESPN wanted to have a conversation on the use of the N word on Outside the Lines.

The show would be hosted by Bob Levy. Wilbon said, “I am not comfortable doing the show with Levy.” Wilbon cited that he had no problem with Levy as a journalist but he had “No horse in the race” and he refused to participate.” I agreed with Wilbon, why would ESPN assign Levy to host a sensitive topic like using the N word to white guy? Those words out of Wilbon’s mouth got my undivided attention.

I have questioned Wilbon’s mindset on different topics on several occasions as I have questioned others in media. It has never been anything personal it is a price we all pay for writing or voicing our opinions in public forums.

He said folks had asked him about our relationship, and he said “I told them everything is cool with me and Harold Bell we have talked.” It is difficult to believe anything that Wilbon and James Brown say out of their mouths. The two are pathetic liars! What Feinstein said about Wilbon sounded real personal.

Feinstein, died March 13, 2025. Wilbon, said all the right things about their relationship, “What a great friend he was, how much they loved each other, and junior could be tough sometimes.”

Stephen A, and Wilbon never played in the NBA. To a man, NBA players claim neither one of the ESPN experts, could not play ‘Dead.’

In a 2007 tribute to our Winston-Salem State University basketball coach, the legendary Clarence ‘Bighouse Gaines, in Chicago, those were his exact same words when asked about Stephen A’s basketball ability on the Winston-Salem State University basketball team, “He Could Not Play Dead.”

In 2007, in a tribute to Bighouse, I received the first Clarence ‘Bighouse’ Gaines Community Service Award.

Congratulations to Bighouse induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

I am No. 54 on the 1962 Rams basketball team

In an interview with Bobby Burkard on his Outkick Podcast, Wilbon was quoted saying, he and PTI partner, Tony Korhisner were responsible for the success of ESPN programing. He claimed the shows copied off of he and Korhisner’s PTI programing! He forgot, he came through Harold Bell and Inside Sports. My talk format is copied by every radio and television sports talk show in America.

Wilbon and I share a laugh during a tribute Gary Mays aka One Arm Bandit at Bens Chili Bowl in DC.

Stephan A. has the University on a monthly stipend to keep his college sports history hush-hush. The “Real Deal”, he has no college sports history to talk about! I don’t blame the university for taking his money.

There is on-going bad blood between MJ and Charles Barkley. Barkley claims, MJ was like a brother before he publicly discussed MJ’s poor performance as owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. According to MJ, too much information!

Stephen A. Smith and his 100 million dollar ESPN salary will be muted when it comes to all things NBA. There will be two NBA Hall of Fame Players that despise him, one is a millionaire and the other is a billionaire.

Charles Barkley will be in the ESPN studio and the NEW SHERIFF in town will be in the studios of NBC-let the games begin!

A NOTE TO COMMISSIONER ADAM SILVER–NBA OUT OF BOUNDS:

Hi Adam, the small town of Kerrville in Texas lost hundreds of lives in the early morning hours on the 4th of July weekend due to a horrific flood. Without warning, many of the town’s children were in camps on the river banks of the Guadalupe when the flood erupted their sleep without warning.

As of July 9th across six counties in Kerrville, Texas, 120 lives have been lost and at last count 170 are missing.

The three Texas NBA teams — the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs — along with the NBA and the NBA Players Association, issued a joint statement on Instagram announcing that they had donated $2 million to relief efforts. How CHEAP can you get?

The NBA is made up of 30 BILLIONAIRE OWNERS and 450 millionaire players on 30 teams, the average salary of each player is five-million dollars+, and that includes the 10 players sitting on the bench. Combine with the Mavericks, Rockets and San Antonio, they could only raise two-million dollars? There are 27 players earning 40 million dollars annually. I find it difficult to believe, THE NBA CARES!

There are a group of players in the NBA who bet millions of dollars on NBA, MLB, NHL games and pro tennis matches. The money that they bet during the NFL season is off the charts.

Adam, you have 30 BILLIONAIRE OWNERS and 450 plus players and hundreds of front office employees under lock and key, and you embarrass yourself and the league donating a measly 2 million dollars to Kerrville-a National Disaster!

If I was the Commissioner and the President of the NBA Players Association, I would be ashamed to let anyone know I was a part of the rallying cry of, THE NBA CARES!

If NBA Players Cared about our children, they would have followed the lead of NBA 2025 first team All-Pro Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers. When he was a member of the Utah Jazz in 2020, he pledged a $12 million donation to Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut.  It is the middle school, his sister and he attended, and where his mother was a teacher.

The donation supports student scholarships, the construction of a new athletic center, and a faculty recognition program. This gift is the largest single donation in the school’s history.  It is also, the largest single donation ever given by an NBA player to a non-profit organization in one lump sum.

Hopefully, there are other pro athletes donating to the Kerrville disaster. The donation by NBA Commissioner and President of the NBA Players Association could best be described as pennies on a dollar donation pledged to people in the city of Kerrville.

Families have lost their homes along with their children and friends, this is a national disaster. The lost children will not get the opportunity to grow up to be healthy, wealthy and wise. What about the children left behind?

NEW NBA SLOGAN: THE NBA CARES–SHOULD BE CHANGED TO “THE NBA COULD CARELESS?”

(NBA) DAVE BING-RED AUERBACH-SAM JONES-JIM ‘BAD NEWS’ BARNES-KC JONES-LEE JONES-JIM BROWN-WILLIE WOOD-JOHNNY SAMPLE-LENNY MOORE-LARRY BROWN-HAROLD McLINTON-AND DOUG WILLIAMS (SANTA CLAUS).

Bing and Wood, are native Washingtonians. In 1967, Bing was “The Rookie of the Year”, with the NBA Detroit Pistons, and Willie Wood was a veteran All-Pro Safety and Punt Returner for the NFL Super Bowl Champions, Green Bay Packers.

In the 60s and 70s they were the first pro athletes to reach back into the community to enhance the lives of inner city youth under the umbrella of my non-profit organization, Kids In Trouble, Inc. The NBA, NFL, MLB, and the NHL all followed my lead.

The 1967 NBA All-Star Game was being played in Baltimore when shots were fired after a basketball game at Spingarn High School in Washington, DC our alma mater. A McKinley Tech High School student shot a Spingarn student during an augment after the hotly contested game won by McKinley Tech.

I was working as a Roving Leader (Youth Gang Task Force) for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks.

It was a Friday evening, and I was headed home to NE DC, when I received a pager/beeper signal from my Director, Stan Anderson. He requested that I stop by Spingarn on the way home to see if I could be of some assistance.

I parked my car on 24th & Benning Road and walked across the street to the school. The school was crawling with cops, and there were students hanging out in front of the building. I did not see any familiar faces. There was a loud mouth in the crowd yelling, “Revenge!” to anyone who would listen.

The young man who suffered the gun shot wound was going to survive. I let the cops deal with the loud mouth. I walked back to Sport’s a carry out across the street and ordered a hot dog and RC Cola.

I sat out in front of Sports’ at the bus stop enjoying my hot dog. A couple of young brothers waiting for the bus, mentioned that the NBA All-Star Game was being played in Baltimore on Sunday.

A light bulb appeared in my head–Dave Bing. He was playing in his first All-Star Game in Baltimore. The next morning, I drove to the Baltimore Civic Center where the game would be played.

I arrived around 11 am, and discovered from a friendly security guard the entry of the players. It was 12 noon when Dave arrived with his Detroit teammate, BIG Bob Lanier. He was surprised to see me, his first words, “Harold Bell, what in the hell are you doing over here!”

We both laughed, and he introduced me to Bob as his mentor in the hood. I explained, I needed a minute. He told Bob to go in and he would be right behind him.

I told him about the shooting of a Spingarn student on Friday evening, and there was talk of revenge. I would verify the talk only as gossip, but I would rather be safe than sorry. He agreed to come to the school on Monday after the game. I called our Coach William Roundtree, and told him to alert the Principal, Dr. Purvis Williams.

When Dave walked into the Spingarn Auditorium on Monday morning, thanks to the All-Star Game on National Television, the students gave him a standing ovation. I don’t know how he felt, but I felt like a proud ‘Big Brother!’ He squashed the talks of revenge, with a few words about The Game Called Life!

Dave, was named the Rookie of the Year, he was the first point guard to lead the NBA in scoring, honored as one the 50 Greatest NBA Players, inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, and last, but not lease a forgettable tenure as the Mayor of Detroit.

I look on as NFL HOF player and Green Bay Packer great, Willie Wood honors DC legendary sportswriter, Dick Heller with the Kids In Trouble Community Service Award.

NBA COACH CHAUNCEY BILLUPS CAUGHT IN GAMBLING STING!

REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE-WHEN YOU HELP OTHERS YOU HELP YOURSELF/ ALI