Empty Seats
Date: June 8, 2026
Title: Empty Seats – MJ’s 18th NBA Game Verse Ervin ‘Magic’ Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers
By: Doctor Dunkenstein
It’s difficult to imagine today, but the NBA was not always a sporting event of great ballyhoo, not to mention the cash cow it has become in 2026. It wasn’t always a basketball League with sold out crowds.
There it is in the video below, for your own eyes to see, Michael Jordan, Ervin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and many other great famous basketball players performing to empty seats in Los Angeles, CA. And again, in the second video, days later, in San Diego against the Clippers. It was 1984, Michael’s first game in the City of Angels, and the arena was just over half full at the start of the game. After they let everybody in free at half time, the arena filled with more fans by the end of the game.
When you watch the 1984 game, do you see ‘MJ’, ‘Air Jordan’, the ‘Come Fly With Me’, “I Wanna Be Like Mike’, ‘The Basketball Superman’ flying through the air, I don’t. I see the 3rd selection in the 1984 NBA draft, playing solid fundamental basketball, showing his excellent ball handling skills, moving somewhat cautiously – playing out of position at the point. I see a basketball player executing with perfection and putting effort into defense. Yes, I see, he could jump in 1984, I see that also. (Back then, that had issues as well, and contributed to a broken foot in the next season.)
The NBA was in a desperate financial position as a league in 1979. It was full of teams that were losing money and owners and franchises struggling to stay afloat financially. It was full of games with empty seats. It also had a ‘drug problem’ deep inside the League.
In 1980, to increase revenue, the NBA created a somewhat false promotional platform scheme with the, Larry Bird verses Magic Johnson, created black against white, East Coast against West Coast, Celtics against the Lakers, the Fast Break Show Time against the Slow Pace Celtics, … … … . It was a successful marketing campaign. The new Bird-Magic show entrance into the League put the NBA games back on national TV. In 1979, the NBA finals were only broadcast on tape delay late at night. The League was already in 1984 developing its next sales pitch, it was called MJ, Air Jordan basketball!
In 1980, it was cable television that saved the NBA, it wasn’t Magic and Bird. They can absolutely be credited for providing something worthwhile to see on the cable channels and on the 1 of 3 national TV networks, when the end of the year NBA playoffs came around. However, there were still plenty of empty seats at NBA games in 1984. Some NBA franchises were still struggling. The franchises which had cable television contract deals were doing much better than those without deals.
[ Digression: Ervin Johnson and Larry Bird can be credited with pushing very hard to establish the first NBA retirement program. There were many financial dissolute, broken and hardship cases of retired NBA players in 1980.]
Even in 1984, take away the top few players salaries on every team, and you did not have an entire team of millionaires bouncing balls on NBA basketball courts and seating on the NBA team benches. You had a lot of financially struggling players.
Michael Jordan was the first to establish a higher revenue flow and cash source for himself from his name image and likeness. Yes, the Nike contract, was always more than his NBA salary. His ‘Airness‘ was never the top paid player in the League. Justifiably, he didn’t like this fact in all his years of playing in the NBA, but he didn’t make a final ‘Custer’s Last Stand’ against his underpaid salary because he knew how to cash in without dependency on his NBA salary. He was always a savvy business man.
More people bought shoes shirts, underwear and sweat pants than bought tickets to attend NBA basketball games in the 1980’s!
[ Digression: yes, it is true that Deloris, Michael Jordan’s mother, and Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike shoe representative credited with signing Michael Jordan, played a large part in the Nike ordeal and contract. But Dean Smith was still the man in charge of all issues regarding basketball and Michael Jordan.
Nothing was ever going to be signed as a contract by Michael Jordan without the approval of Dean Smith.
Dean had been a Converse Shoe representative his entire life for decades. In 1984, Nike shoes had a bad reputation as a crummy cheaply made, and somewhat dangerous basketball shoe in 1984. Dean made sure they would make Michael personalized shoes that were safe, and that he would profit well in the contract deal. Converse was always ready to sign Michael Jordan to a shoe contract in 1984.
Sonny Vaccoro was not a revolutionary brilliant salesman with some original idea, as portrayed in the recent film. In 1980-84, Nike signed many players and NBA draft selections starting in 1980. Nike provided between $10,000 and $30,000 to college players the day after their last NCAA game and before the draft and an NBA contract was signed. ]
The League knew in 1984, they needed to put something in front of the people that would make cash. they needed to expand on the magic-bird marketing scheme. Even before Michael Jordan played his first 10 games, the media and League began immediately to put Michael into their marketing promotional ladder. Due to his unique style of play and exceptional scoring power he was placed into the league’s top promotional position. His personal off court habits presented a ‘clean’ marketable secure image. He was not yet known to be a compulsive high stakes gambler, and his only addiction appeared to be golf.
[ Digression: The golf addiction was … provided, taught, provoked and supplied by Coach Roy Williams during Michael’s days at University of North Carolina. Golf was a great gift to give and hook a compulsive driven person on, better than the alternatives of many other professional basketball players of that era.]
In the video below, I hear the TV announcers already crowning him the second coming of ‘Jesus’ in the world of basketball. It actually took Michael seven more hard fought years of constant improvement, dedication, sacrifice and work to win his first title, and become the ‘King’ of the NBA.
By that time in 1997, there weren’t ever many empty seats in an NBA arena when Michael Jordan played basketball.
Michael Jordan Rookie Year Games
Author: Video/Film Creator Prologue:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in the Top 3 of most NBA fans’ All-Time greatest lists.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 37 years old, at this point in time, but you’ll see how dominant he still was, in 1984.
Kareem was 37 years old but he was leading the 84-85 Lakers in scoring, he was 6th in the NBA in FG%, and 8th in the NBA in blocks (heading in to this game).
Kareem is most well known for his sky hook. Kareem had many counters to the sky hook, including left hand sky hooks, which is a technique that he employed during this contest.
Kareem was unstoppable, and he was a tactician as a scorer! (Also a student of Bruce Lee).
These early career games where Michael Jordan took less than 15 shot attempts are fair to assume were games of acclimation. (Umm, not sure about that statement.)
Despite not being widely regarded as the most skilled group, his teammates were still professional athletes who had pride & you could see hesitation, on the court, at times, with deferring leadership to a newcomer, even one with Jordan’s burgeoning reputation.
So, in the initial phase of his career, Michael had to proceed with caution, especially in the delicate dynamics of team hierarchy.
Even though Michael Cooper played exceptional defense against MJ, this was truly a game where Jordan focused on facilitating the play and managing the offense.
He was not aggressive (Doctor Dunkenstein is not in agreement with the author regarding this statement). Even when other players defended Jordan, he looked to run the play that was called.
As a rookie, Jordan was navigating the challenge of aligning his fierce competitive nature with the collective temperament of the team.
Ball movement was encouraged (30:37). He would however put his foot on the gas pedal when his team needed him most, in this contest. Imagine, you haven’t even played 20 games in the NBA & you are tasked with defending the great Magic Johnson, in Los Angeles, as a rookie!
Most legends would struggle with that early task, during a rookie season. Magic Johnson was Michael Jordan’s assignment for most of this contest.
And despite playing more tentative (early in his rookie campaign) than he’d play throughout his career, Jordan was already Top 5 in NBA Scoring, and had a reputation as one of the game’s best 4th quarter players, before even playing in his 20th game.
This would be a tough challenge for Air Jordan. Michael had his work cut out for him in this road contest. The Lakers came in to this game with a 4 game win streak against the Bulls dating back to early 1982.
The Hollywood crowd would not disappoint featuring some of the most wealthy and successful people from the Los Angeles area in attendance. Jack Nicholson was of course in the crowd, as you’d expect, for this contest. But did you know, just 2 nights prior, that Jack was in attendance at the Bulls vs Clippers game on November 30, 1984
Although Jack attending 2 of Jordan’s first 20 basketball games, courtside, is perhaps the best celebrity story from Jordan’s rookie season… as stated during this broadcast,
8 out of the first 13 road games during Michael Jordan’s career, sold out, in 1984,
Digression:
[Doctor Dunkenstein refutes this claim as to the amount of sellouts in Michael 1984 games, it was less than 8 games of 13. … … even at an 8 of 13 sell out game rate, it still indicates a lack of overall interest in the NBA. It proves our point of low attendance, what were the sellouts without, magic, Bird, and Michael?]
… when communications were slow ( no internet) & methodical compared to now.
Jordan’s exposure to the general public had only just begun but a box office trend was developing very early on.
Could you imagine a world where Rookie Michael Jordan defeated Magic Johnson & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in their own house?
(1984-85 Season) Game TIMESTAMPS: (Go to comments for full list of timestamps) 2:14 – Game Begins 5:33 – Michael Jordan 1 v 1 drive vs Michael Cooper 7:25 – Replay of Michael Jordan’s drive vs future DPOY (’87) Michael Cooper 10:48 – Michael Jordan vs Michael Cooper (draws foul on McGee, free throw) 16:08 – Jack Nicholson in the crowd 17:24 – Michael Jordan crossover & drive vs Magic Johnson 18:31 – Replay of Michael Jordan crossover vs Magic Johnson & left handed layup 20:26 – Michael Jordan steals Magic Johnson entry pass to Kareem 20:31 – Michael Jordan transition hanging bank shot 23:48 – Jordan free throws 24:08 – Michael Jordan block on Michael Cooper 26:51 – Michael Jordan fouls Kareem 31:05 – Michael Jordan free throw 31:56 – Michael Jordan breaks up Magic Johnson fast break 33:02 – Michael Jordan jumper 34:22 – Michael Jordan attempted steal called foul vs Magic Johnson 38:18 – Michael Jordan offensive rebound and tough put back shot 41:32 – Michael Jordan draws Kareem away from Dave Corzine (layup) 45:08 – Michael Jordan clutch jumper 47:12 – Michael Jordan clutch jumper 49:02 – Michael Jordan denies entry pass to Kareem 51:44 – Game ends
Michael Jordan hadn’t even played in 20 career regular season games at this point, but he had amassed a plethora of high quality performances. Jordan had the epic clutch performance against Milwaukee to the tune of 37 points, in just his 3rd game. Jordan defeated Isiah Thomas in an epic contest, in Detroit, at the Pontiac Silverdome where Jordan made so many memorable plays, in just his 6th game. He dominated Bernard King & the Knicks in New York City to the tune of 33 points, in just his 7th pro game, while putting on the type of display you’d expect out of someone in their prime. He delivered his first game winner in just his 8th NBA game, against the Pacers. He put up 45 points against George Gervin, in just his 9th NBA game. He also had a stretch of three 30 point games in a 4 game stretch from games #12-#15. So, this was game #18. Norm Nixon tied Isiah Thomas in 1984 for league lead in NBA Total Assists, putting up 11.1 assists per game during his first year after leaving the Lakers, beating out the great Magic Johnson in the process. Norm Nixon made the All-Star team in 1982 & 1985. He won NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980 & 1982. Bill Walton led the UCLA Bruins to two consecutive NCAA championships (1972 and 1973). Walton also delivered one of the most dominant collegiate performances with his 44-point game in the 1973 Championship Game, making a staggering 21 out of 22 shot attempts. That legendary performance delivered UCLA’s 75th straight win & 7th straight championship. Walton continued to shine in the NBA, anchoring the Portland Trail Blazers to their 1st championship in 1977 with exceptional shot-blocking, rebounding & passing skills. Bill Walton was 2x All-Defensive, the 1977 Blocks Champion, the 1977 Rebounding Champion, and he won the MVP award in 1978. Walton would later win the 6th man of the year in 1986. Despite his professional highs, Walton’s career was beleaguered by persistent foot injuries, limiting his playing time and curtailing what many believed could have been one of the all-time great basketball careers. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & the Lakers were hosting the Kansas City Kings at the Forum that night, but Jack Nicholson still chose to watch Michael Jordan face the Clippers at the LA Sports Arena instead. Jack opted for Air Jordan over The Showtime Lakers! And he wasn’t alone…. November 30, 1984: Rookie Michael Jordan drew 14,366 NBA fans to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena Magic Johnson & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar drew 12,766 NBA fans to The Forum in Inglewood, California Clippers previous home game attendance: 6,261 (-8,105) Clippers next home game attendance: 7,092 (-7,274) Michael Jordan wasn’t ultra-aggressive for most of this contest, and this would be part of an early career pattern. Jordan was committed to “running the offense”. During his first 20 NBA games Jordan had 11 games where he did not attempt at least 20 shots, including 7 games where he took 15 shot attempts or less. That pattern was set in this game, with Michael “running the offense”, in a less aggressive manner. That was until crunch time. In crunch time Jordan threw caution to the wind and put the foot on the gas pedal. What happened next will be remembered for generations to come!
