4. Bird and Magic Pass Baton to Jordan:Bird was far past his prime and would retire following the Barcelona Games. Magic Johnson had not played in over a year after revealing he had HIV. Jordan, on the other hand, was entering his athletic prime and had just won the second of six championships. Despite the fact that Jordan, who played on the 1984 Olympic gold medal team, deferred to Bird and Magic when asked to be co-captains with them, they made him a co-captain anyhow. It was an unofficial passing of the baton to Jordan, who by this time was already considered the best the NBA had ever seen.
