One of the questions that may arise when you see Michael Jordan playing basketball with his children in the first episode of “The Last Dance” is what happened to Marcus and Jeffrey Jordan.
Specifically, did they follow in their father’s footsteps and play basketball?
The answer is yes, although, of course, neither of them ever had a career anywhere close to their father’s.
The oldest, Jeffrey, was the first one we saw in the NCAA. After standing out at the Loyola Academy, he received scholarship offers from Valparaiso and Loyola University Chicago, in addition to receiving interest as a walk-on from Davidson, Penn State, Northwestern and Illinois.
Ultimately, Jeffrey went for the best of those options, the Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois.
At Illinois, Jeffrey played three seasons, posting averages of 1.6 points in 11.3 minutes over 92 games.
As a senior, Jeffrey decided to transfer to UCF (University of Central Florida), a team that already had his brother, Marcus, on the roster. After missing the 2010-11 season due to NCAA rules, he played his final collegiate season in 2011-12, averaging 2.7 points and 1.8 assists in 13 games with the Knights.
In the middle of the season, Jeffrey announced his retirement for personal reasons at 23 years old.
Marcus had more individual success in his basketball career. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard made his freshmen debut in 2009-10 with averages of 8.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He then proved to be one of the best players in the USA Conference as a sophomore with averages of 15.2 points, 3.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game.
The highest point of his career? A home win against the Florida Gators, in which Marcus scored 18 points.
The 2011-12 season — the one he was teammates with his brother Jeffrey — he averaged 13.7 points in 31 games.
After that season, with a year remaining on his college eligibility, Marcus walked away from the basketball team.
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