Bob Costas doesn’t know exactly what to expect from Michael Jordan when the NBA legend appears on NBC as a special contributor this season, but believes that Jordan has the capacity to be a candid communicator—if he wants to be.

Costas, the legendary former NBC broadcaster who had a major role in NBA coverage during Jordan’s heyday, spoke to Front Office Sports about Jordan’s role. 

“I’m not 100% sure what NBC’s overall plan is for using him. I know he’s not going to be on every game and he’s not going to be in the normal sort of role of sitting there at the desk. I think they’ll use him more selectively than that. But keep this in mind: When Michael wants to be he’s a very thoughtful observer of the game, and he expresses himself very well. I mean, think of him on The Last Dance,” Costas said. 

“And whenever he sat down for an interview, not the courtside interview as the game has just ended, but a real interview, whether it was with me or Ahmad [Rashad] or whomever—I mean, he didn’t do them every week, there were too many demands on his time—but when he did them, he was really good. And he didn’t give boilerplate answers. He was thoughtful about it. So I think he’ll be as good as he wants to be.” 

As Costas alluded to, Jordan was his authentic, brash, cigar-smoking self in The Last Dance documentary. Months ago, ESPN star Stephen A. Smith, who is close with Jordan, implied we would get this version of Jordan on NBC, saying he would be “brutally honest.” 

Last week, NBC NFL color commentator Cris Collinsworth told Kay Adams the segments would be a “deep dive into the brain of Michael Jordan” and promised it would be like having conversations with him after a “couple glasses of wine” with “no cameras” rolling. Collinsworth works alongside Mike Tirico—who was shown in a teaser on Sunday Night Football this week for his sit-down interview with Jordan for the “MJ: Insights to Excellence” series—so one would suspect he has some reliable intel. 

But would Jordan’s swagger be dialed up as much as it was in The Last Dance?

“Well, of course, The Last Dance is about his team, his era, and him. He’s at the center of it,” Costas said. “So naturally, he’s more invested in it. He has more to say—he was the firsthand witness to all of it. So you can’t expect him to have the same level of insight and involvement in talking about the Nuggets and Nikola Jokić, you know, as talking about the Bulls against [Clyde] Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers.”

Asked whether he thinks Jordan will be critical of current stars, Costas posited that Jordan, in his pretaped segments, will be used more for “historical overview” content than immediate reactions to the NBA’s nightly happenings. In this vein, these are some questions Costas would ask Jordan if he was in the room:

• “You played baseball, what’s your take on Ohtani? How does [Friday night’s game] rank with the greatest basketball performances you’ve ever seen?”
• “Who does LeBron James compare to, if anybody, that you played against?”
• “If your Bulls had to defend Steph Curry’s Warriors at their best, who guards Curry?”

Costas acknowledged he was “a little” surprised Jordan is entering media more than 20 years after the six-time NBA champion’s second retirement, but that he was “glad.”

“He’s Michael Jordan,” Costas said. “If in 1995 Ted Williams said, ‘I’d like to go on-air and talk about hitting.’ Only an idiot would say, ‘No thank you.’ It’s hard to imagine, but let’s say Tiger Woods doesn’t play in The Masters or doesn’t make the cut, and then he says, ‘I want to do something on CBS during The Masters.’ Who wouldn’t listen?”

It’s not known yet how many dates Jordan will be on-air for NBC—his first appearance will be Tuesday night at halftime of the Thunder-Rockets game—and the role will be unlike what we’ve seen from other star athletes in media. Costas noted that for Fox, Derek Jeter is analyzing games live in the studio and Tom Brady from the announce booth. Jordan’s content is expected to be more evergreen. 

Since his retirement, we haven’t heard much from Jordan—aside from The Last Dance—so there’s still a fascination with what he’s going to say. 

“His mere presence is a reason to stop and then put down the remote,” Costas said. 

Former Auburn Tigers coach Bruce Pearl is joining TNT Sports as a college basketball analyst on its new studio team, along with host Adam Lefkoe and analysts Jalen Rose, Jamal Mashburn, and Chris Webber.

Front Office Sports sat down with the four-time SEC Coach of the Year to ask about his return to TV—and Michael Wilbon’s attack on him as an intentionally “divisive person” on ESPN airwaves. 

TNT Sports runs in the Pearl family. His daughter Leah used to work in the old Turner Sports talent office. Here is an excerpt of our chat.

Front Office Sports: We know you were thinking about running for the Alabama Senate seat? So why sports TV?

Bruce Pearl: I’ve always loved to talk about the game. I’ve always loved to analyze the game. And I love to teach the game. When I announced I was no longer going to coach, my friends at Turner reached out—and we began having discussions about what’s next.

FOS: So why studio analyst over game analyst?

BP: In the studio, you actually can have more time breaking down plays and doing a lot of big picture. Then having interaction with Adam and the incredible team they assembled. Being at Auburn, Atlanta is not terribly far down the road. So when I was coaching Auburn, and before that Tennessee, I would go in and do some studio work. And I liked it. But then when I saw this team they put together of Jalen Rose and Jamal Mashburn and Chris Webber, I said, ‘Wow, this is going to be fun and this is going to be entertaining.’ … That’s how [TNT] does it. They did it with [Inside the NBA] unlike anything we’ve ever seen in sports and entertainment. So that’s a lot for us to shoot for. But certainly if anybody knows how to do it, Turner Sports does.

FOS: What did you learn about TV during your time at ESPN from 2012 to 2014?

BP: I really appreciated and enjoyed my time at ESPN. But when I got done with a game, or a show, I wasn’t ever sure what the outcome was. Did we have a good game? Did we have a good show? When I was coaching basketball, I knew what the outcome was. So that was something that was a little different. I want to have a conversation with Jamal and Adam and Jalen and let our viewing audience come in on our conversation about the quality of the game. I hope I get a chance to continue to teach.

That’s the one thing that I’m missing about coaching, even right now as we speak, is being at practice and teaching the little things, the nuances, what makes it work. Timing, spacing, the position of your feet and your shoulders and your eyes. I hope we get to do a little of that. I learned this from listening to Bobby Knight’s radio show when I was the head coach at Southern Indiana. Bobby Knight actually respected his fans and the listeners almost more than he did the media. He would teach—and he would talk real basketball on his radio show. I want to do that from a [TV] studio.

FOS: You’ve been outspoken about your Jewish faith and steadfast in your public support of Israel. Were you surprised by Wilbon saying he hoped there was “pressure” to drive you out at Auburn. Came out of nowhere. I was surprised. Even Tony Kornheiser seemed shocked.

BP: I was surprised, too. I always had a great relationship with Tony and Mike. I’ve heard from several people close to Mike that we’re going to have a conversation. One thing I do know is that this was not antisemitic. Perhaps it’s just that our politics are different.

FOS: Given Inside the NBA’s iconic status, do you feel pressure to help make the inaugural season of TNT’s Big East and Big 12 coverage a success?

BP: Very much so. Coming off another Final Four appearance, and some coaching accolades, my visibility was really at a high point. When Turner decided to make the jump back into college basketball, and get the Big 12 and Big East, they wanted to create a national show covering college basketball. Then they made the commitment to bring in this kind of talent. So it was really attractive. 

FOS: Best of luck on TV this season.

BP: Thanks. I hope I’m good at it.