1993 NBA Finals - Aftermath

Aftermath

Over a month following the Bulls' third straight championship, Michael Jordan's father, James R. Jordan, Sr., was murdered. Distraught by the murder of his father, Jordan announced his retirement from the game a few weeks before the 1993-94 NBA season began, citing a lack of desire to play basketball. Even without Jordan, the Bulls still managed to win 55 games behind the All-Star efforts of Scottie Pippen; however the loss of Jordan was steep to overcome, and the Bulls lost to the New York Knicks in Conference Semi-finals of the 1994 NBA Playoffs in 7 games. Jordan would return from retirement in March 1995, following a brief baseball career and made the 1995 NBA Playoffs, losing to the Orlando Magic in 6 games.

The Phoenix Suns would finish with 56 wins in the 1993-94 season, but were bounced out of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets after leading 2-0 in the Western Conference Semifinals. The following year, Phoenix took a commanding 3-1 lead against a 6th-Seeded Houston team only to falter again, losing Games 5 and 7 on their home court, the last of which was decided on a 3-pointer by Mario Elie and an ensuing free throw session. The Rockets went on to win both the 1994 and 1995 NBA Finals. As of 2012 this is the Suns' last Finals appearance. In a last-ditch attempt to win a championship, Barkley was soon traded, ironically, to the Rockets in 1996 for Sam Cassell, Robert Horry and Chucky Brown. Despite forming a "Big Three" with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets failed to make the NBA Finals in Barkley's four seasons. The 1993 Finals would be the only appearance of Charles Barkley's Hall of Fame career.

This marked the last time a Phoenix-based major professional sports team competed for a championship until the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball club, another team previously owned by Jerry Colangelo, won the 2001 World Series in only their fourth season of existence. This was followed by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals' loss on Super Bowl XLIII to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. In terms of all professional sports, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury would win the WNBA Finals in 2007 and 2009. As of 2012, the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes are the only Phoenix-based team yet to compete in a championship series.