From Sam Smith of Bulls.com:
In the end, Jordan signed a one-year $30 million contract with the Bulls, and then in 1997-98, a one-year $33 million deal for his final Bulls contract. But there were some at the time who believed Jordan, like LeBron James now, wanted the Madison Square Garden/New York City spotlight to conclude his glorious career. Though it’s also a function of the players there at the time, and the Knicks of 1996-97 were a good team with Patrick Ewing, a healthy Allan Houston and Jordan’s best buddy, Charles Oakley. With Jordan, they likely would have been champions. They seemed a lot better prepared to guarantee Jordan a title than they would now with James in two years.
And that was the plan of the aggressive then Knicks president Dave Checketts, who always said you could not rebuild in New York; that the community wouldn’t stand for a run of draft choices. They’re not exactly doing that now, but might have to if their free agency coup of 2010 fails.
The key was Knicks ownership at the time.
ITT was a part owner and one of its properties was Sheraton Hotels. Though any compensation other than salary has to be included in the salary cap, strange things can happen in the NBA regarding a New York franchise. So the plan being cooked up was to somehow—I never heard quite how—get Jordan substantial Sheraton holdings, perhaps in endorsement money which would be separate from the salary cap and seemingly within the rules.
