Sports · BasketballJune 1984
Portland’s No. 2 pick
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You run Portland’s draft room. Houston has taken Hakeem Olajuwon. Your roster already includes young guard Clyde Drexler, while conventional wisdom prizes elite centers.
- Sam Bowie fills the positional need and has returned from two seasons lost to leg injuries.
- Michael Jordan is an extraordinary college guard entering a backcourt that already has Drexler.
- Trading the pick may spread risk but means surrendering control of which star remains available.
What happened next
Roster logic met an all-time outlier.
Portland selected Bowie second; Chicago took Jordan third. Injuries constrained Bowie’s career, while Jordan won six NBA championships—but those titles are not championships Portland can simply claim in a counterfactual.
No. 2Bowie selected
No. 3Jordan selected
6Jordan’s NBA titles
The recorded selections and careers are facts; Portland’s alternate championships, revenue, and roster chemistry are unknowable. The scenario does not ridicule a player whose career was shaped by injury.
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