- Michael Jordan is a former basketball pro best known for his success on the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s
- Michael has five kids between two marriages
- He became a grandfather in 2019
Michael Jordan, 60, is by all accounts an NBA legend, having led the Chicago Bulls to six championship wins during the 1990s. Unsurprisingly, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Michael retired from the NBA (for the third but final time) in 2003 with an impressive resume. Not only did he finish his NBA career with six championship titles, he also was a five-time NBA MVP, 14-time All-Star, and two-time Olympic gold medalist.
In addition to being a legendary basketball player, he was a businessman as well. He signed a lucrative and long-lasting deal with Nike in the 1980s, and between his second and third retirement, he partially bought the Washington Wizards and became the team’s president of basketball operations. About two decades later, he was back in the headlines for his deal to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to a group of investors. The sale was valued at $3 billion, according to ESPN.
On top of being as savvy as a businessman, as he was a basketball player, Michael is a father to five kids: Jeffrey, 34, Marcus, 32, Jasmine, 30, and 9-year-old twins Victoria and Ysabel. The NBA goliath shares his youngest twins with his current wife Yvette Prieto, whom he wed in 2013, and his three adult children with his ex-wife Juanita Vanoy. Read on to meet each of the NBA icon’s five kids.
Jeffrey Michael Jordan
Jeffrey is the eldest child shared by Michael and his first wife, Juanita. A former basketball player for the University of Illinois and Central Florida, he parlayed into business and currently leads brand digital innovation for the Jordan Brand. “I conceptualize and test new technologies, trends, platforms (such as Esports, Podcasts/Audio content, etc.) to enhance the marketing power and the cohesiveness of our marketing campaigns,” He told Forbes of his role in April 2020. “My job basically is to answer the question, ‘How can we utilize cool, new, exciting digital trends to tell our brand stories?'” He married Radina Aneva in 2019.
The same year, Jeffrey remember the Jordan household as a competitive environment. “He was tough and it was competitive,” Jeffrey said on Good Morning America. “We always felt like the competitive atmosphere shaped us in a way that was for the better and got us prepared for what we were gonna face in the real world. We embraced it, but the switch was on.”
Unfortunately, in 2021, the eldest Jordan son was arrested after being accused of assaulting staff at a hospital in Arizona, per Fox 10. He was in the hospital after falling at the Casa Amigos restaurant in Scottsdale. It’s not clear if he was ever charged.
Marcus James Jordan
Marcus is the middle child of Michael and Juanita. He previously played basketball for the University of Central Florida, where he studied hospitality management. After he graduated from college, Marcus followed his brother Jeffrey’s footsteps and into business. Marcus is the founder and CEO of The Trophy Room, a retailer described as an “elevated retail boutique inspired by the trophy room within the Jordan family residence.” It features footwear and apparel from Jordan and Nike.
Marcus made headlines in 2022 and 2023 for dating Larsa Pippen, who is 16 years older than him. Their relationship has raised some eyebrows, as Marcus’ famous father played for the Chicago Bulls alongside Larsa’s ex-husband, Scottie Pippen, in the ’80s and ’90s. The former teammates are not friends. Larsa defended her romance with Marcus on the Tamron Hall Show in Feb. 2023. “I personally don’t really care what other people [think] – I live my truth. I’m happy. We get along. I feel like [Marcus] is my best friend. We have a lot in common,” she stated.
Jasmine Mickael Jordan
Jasmine is the only daughter between Michael and Juanita. While she does not have a career in basketball, she does reside in the world of sports and, of course, sneakers. Jasmine studied sports management at Syracuse University and currently works as a field representative for women’s sport marketing for Nike Jordan. Before joining the family business, Jasmine was the basketball operations coordinator for the Charlotte Hornets.
Most recently, she has been passionately growing an incredibly talented team of women basketball players under the Jordan brand. The brand signed its first NIL (image, likeness) high school recruit for the brand in Feb. 2022.
In a March interview, Jasmine explained why she prefers to work for her father’s company. “I can go anywhere off my name, my degree and merits, but am I going to find myself? Probably not,” she explained to Footwear News in March 2023. “And I love my family. It’s a huge part of why I do what I do. I love that anything I do is driven from a place of heart and genuine care.”
“I don’t need to say, ‘I’m Michael Jordan’s daughter.’ That’s not necessary,” she proudly stated while discussing her flourishing career. “Acknowledging the elephant in the room and not letting it dictate how I move is important, so I can carve out my legacy. My dad’s shoes are big shoes to fill, and I have no desire to fill them.”
Jasmine previously admitted she had no idea how bug of a deal her father was until she was a teenager.
“He was ‘dad,’ and that was it,” she explained to InStyle in 2018. “It wasn’t until my pre-teens at about 12 or 13 years old that I literally went on YouTube and looked up ‘Michael Jordan’ just to see why everyone was so obsessed. I remember being younger and my classmates telling me, ‘You’re so lucky to have Michael Jordan as a dad.’”
She continued, “They always questioned what it was like, and all I could say is ‘he’s just my dad and it’s fun.’ It didn’t hit me that he was the phenomenon that he is. I would ask him questions all the time like, ‘Why do you think you’re the greatest?’ and he would just laugh.”
Jamine is engaged to Syracuse alum and former basketball player Rakeem Christmas. The pair welcomed a don, Rakeem Michael Christmas, in 2019.
Victoria and Ysabel Jordan
Twins Victoria and Ysabel were born in Feb. 2014, one year after Michael and Yvette walked down the aisle. The former NBA player’s rep confirmed the news at the time in a statement that read, “Yvette and the babies are doing well and the family is overjoyed at their arrival.” Given Michael’s private, low-key nature about his family, not too much is known about the twins. Michael (understandably) does not share photos of the girls on his Instagram or Twitter, nor does his wife appear to have an online presence.