“The Last Dance” is what Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson called the 1997-98 season. “This is your last season with the team as it exists now. Enjoy every minute of it!” he told the players. And they enjoyed it. ESPN / Netflix’s The Last Dance series is about the Chicago Bulls’ last dance, the players of this unique team, their opponents, the people who have been around the Bulls and, of course, the man who changed the NBA forever – Michael Jordan.
The Last Dance was based on unique footage taken by a team of NBA filmmakers during the 1997-98 season. At the time, Michael Jordan gave the TV crew full access to the team’s locker room and his hotel room with the stipulation that the footage could only be used after his express permission. After many years and many rejections, in 2016. Jordan finally agreed to the documentary’s offer, allowing the series to be born.
In addition to archival footage from 1997-98 and numerous recordings of previous NBA seasons, all the way back to the mid-60s when it comes to the basketball career of coach Phil Jackson, the series has included many contemporary interviews with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Tony Kukoche, Steve Kerr, B.J. Armstrong, Horace Grant – players from the Chicago Bulls star cast. However, the Bulls’ notable rivals were not forgotten, with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, who died in early 2020, appearing on the show. Kobe Bryant, Reggie Miller, John Stockton and other notable players. Not only that, in The Last Dance you will quite unexpectedly see two former US presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, several TV and movie stars, popular singers and presenters – all united by their love for basketball.
Naturally, the star of The Last Dance, as in its time the star of the NBA, was Michael Jordan, the series focused primarily on him, his family, his sports and business career, his unstoppable thirst for victory, which led all the Bulls. But there’s also a lot of room for the people without whom Jordan would never have become a six-time NBA champion, the people who carried him through the years, who put up with his gruffness and lack of restraint and who supported him through the years. The series is quite detailed about several of the Chicago Bulls’ leading players.
You also get a glimpse into the impact that Jordan had on basketball and the NBA, his influence on fashion and the expansion of the American way of life around the world. The series doesn’t hide the dark side of Jordan’s career, though, speaking frankly about his gambling addiction that the former basketball player still denies, his rudeness with his teammates and some of his actions that Jordan is still ashamed of.
