"Some people might say the league is diluted" - Michael Jordan said the 72-win Bulls squad wasn't better than their first three-peat teams
The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls went on an absolute rampage and finished with a historic 72-10 record, breaking the previous record of 69 wins set by the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1971-72 NBA season.
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The Bulls opened the 1995-96 season with an impressive 33-3 record and were beating their opponents by an average winning margin of 12 points per game, better than any of their teams during their first three-peat run. But while the rest of the Association was praising the Bulls for their hot start, Michael Jordan had a different perspective.
"Are we better than our three championship teams?" said Jordan. "I don't think so. Some people might say the league is diluted."
The impact of expansion drafts
When Jordan joined the NBA in 1984, the league had 23 teams. However, with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird increasing the NBA's popularity and Jordan's superstardom taking it to the next level, the league took advantage to grow its business by expanding to more markets.
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In 1988, the NBA added two new teams, the Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic. A year later, it added two more, the Miami Heat and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then, after the Bulls' first three-peat, the league welcomed in the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies, increasing the total number of teams to 29.
Did the expansions dilute the league? Somewhat. But the Bulls suffered in the process as well, losing B.J. Armstrong, who was taken first overall by the Toronto Raptors, in the 1995 Expansion Draft.
However, in the summer of 1995, they made a huge move to acquire Dennis Rodman while adding veterans like Randy Brown, James Edwards and John Salley to support the core of Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc.
Related: "Every single time that we eliminated them, Mike found me, shook my hand" - Joe Dumars says it's a myth Michael Jordan never showed sportsmanship
Rodman and Sloan agreed with Jordan
A couple of weeks before Jordan diminished Chicago's hot start to the season, Rodman was asked about the possibility of the Bulls shattering the Lakers' all-time record and becoming the first team in NBA history to secure at least 70 wins in an 82-game regular season. The legendary forward echoed his teammate's words, saying he wouldn't be too impressed even if they rewrite the NBA record books.
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"This league is so filtered and watered down, we can beat anybody with our eyes closed, pretty much," Rodman said.
Even Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, whose team would win 64 and 62 games in 1996-97 and 1997-98, respectively, and face Jordan and Rodman in consecutive Finals in 1997 and 1998, agreed with the Bulls duo.
"You look at the overall picture, it is diluted to some extent," said Sloan. "You can get by with three great players on a team and have a chance to win it all. Before, you had to have four or five great players, and some good players around them."
The 1996 Bulls' 72-win regular season stood as the league's gold standard until 2016, when the Golden State Warriors won 73 games and became the first team to lose fewer than 10 games in the regular season. And while no one said the Warriors' feat was a byproduct of the NBA watering down due to expansion drafts, they faced criticism for another reason: not capping off their historic year with a championship.
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The 1995-96 Bulls did that after beating the Seattle SuperSonics in a six-game finals series.
Related: "From 1 to 12, it was always connected" - Michael Jordan says his first championship-winning Bulls were more together than the 72-10 squad
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
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