Not only was he the #3 overall pick but he went on to win Rookie of the Year. Shop the latest selection of NBA Jerseys at Champs Sports. Players were chosen without regard to position and were not ranked (they were announced alphabetically and vote totals were not revealed). But on July 1, 1998 the NBA lock-out began and wouldn’t be resolved until January 20, 1999, so all player negotiations and roster moves were put on hold. The jersey should be to the exact measurements and specifications of the player for the particular season that it was produced. On March 19, 1995 Jordan returned to basketball after his stint in minor league baseball following his father’s murder in August 1993. The final list of the 50 Greatest Players consisted of 11 current players and 16 who retired in the 1980s or 1990s. Therefore, you have to look at the jock tag, NBA logo and collar label. Kevin Garnett and Vince Carter are signed through next season, and Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce and Tony Parker have deals that run through the 2017-2018 season. On January 13, 1999 Jordan announced his second retirement from the NBA. The collar label now had the size of the jersey and read “Authentic Athletic Apparel. UPDATE: It’s important to note that there are four additional players still active in the NBA that are not included on this list: Manu Ginobili (1999 San Antonio Spurs), Pau Gasol (2001 Memphis Grizzlies via Atlanta), Richard Jefferson (2001 New Jersey Nets via Houston) and Zach Randolph (2001 Portland Trail Blazers). However, the label in the collar was often cut off by kids since it was kind of irritating when wearing the jersey. While Champion could no longer produce authentic jerseys for the 19 teams now held by Nike or Starter, they still had the exclusive license to produce replica jerseys for all 29 teams. The Nets retired his jersey in 1993, and history has come to respect how great of a player Petrovic was. Champion Europe did produce Gasol Grizzlies jerseys, but Champion USA did not. On June 6, 1996, during the 1995-1996 NBA Finals between the Bulls and Sonics, David Stern officially announced the “NBA at 50” celebration for the upcoming 1996-1997 season. Kobe Bryant’s rookie-style Lakers Champion jersey started selling like crazy in the months leading up to his final game, and still remains tough to find. So Champion made a jersey for the Grizzlies #6 pick, but not their #3 pick who would go on to win ROY, two NBA titles and is a potential Hall of Famer. Already a legend in Europe, Petrovic joined the Portland Trailblazers for the 1989-1990 season at the age of 25 (the Blazers had selected him in the 1986 draft and owned his rights). The interior torso hemline still had the fabric content label with washing instructions. With Tim Duncan stepping away from the game a few days ago after 19 seasons,  I realized that in the not-so-distant future there will be no players left from the “Champion jersey era.” The last Champion jerseys rolled off the assembly lines during the 2001-2002 season…14 seasons ago! Note the jock tag is a size 46 in the ad. In 1998-1999, Champion once again updated the label that was sewn into the collar (this label would remain the same through 2001-2002 when Champion stopped producing replica jerseys). I’ve only seen two come up for auction on Ebay in my nearly 20 years of collecting. The NBA’s 50th Anniversary gave the league the perfect opportunity to tell its story and finally give past superstars their due. So the absence of a label in the collar most likely signifies that jersey was produced sometime between 1991-1992 and 1994-1995. They were a specialty item that didn’t really have a niche outside of the world of memorabilia (collectors, autographs, etc). The 1998-1999 season marked the final year that Champion produced Jordan’s Bulls jerseys. The euphoria only lasted a week, because on June 21, 1998 Phil Jackson didn’t resign with the Bulls and walked away from coaching (Tim Floyd would replace Jackson). It was limited to 200 and available only by phone order from Carsons.