From 🐂 Bulls to 🗽 Knicks: Rewriting NBA History, as Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron Await

The first ten years of Re↠Written Rings unfolded in a league forever reshaped by one simple twist: Michael Jordan never entered the 1984 draft. 

That absence rippled across the NBA, rewriting dynasties before they ever began. In Dallas, the Mavericks struck gold—landing Charles Barkley and John Stockton in ’84, then adding Reggie Lewis in ’87. The trio powered the franchise to four titles in five years (1988–90, 1992), transforming the Mavericks into the era’s unlikely powerhouse.

Boston, too, reaped the rewards of this altered reality. Larry Bird and the Celtics still claimed the 1986 crown, but the Mavericks—not the Lakers—stood across from them in the ’87 Finals. 

Boston won again, and an injury-stricken 1989 season brought them Tim Hardaway in the draft. With Bird still the heart of the roster, Hardaway’s arrival helped secure another championship run in 1991, giving Boston two extra banners in a decade already rich with glory.

Not everyone thrived in this reshaped NBA. Magic Johnson’s Lakers managed only one title (1985) instead of their real-world three, blocked repeatedly by Dallas’ dominance. 

The Detroit Pistons never rose to power, stifled year after year by the Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks—a team that, thanks to Brad Daugherty’s arrival in 1986, seized the East and captured a breakthrough championship in 1994. 

Chicago, meanwhile, built a contender without Jordan: Chris Mullin in ’85, Scottie Pippen in ’87, and Larry Johnson with the top pick in ’91 formed a potent trio that peaked with a title in 1993.

That was the league we left behind at the end of 1994—an NBA where dynasties were born in Dallas, Boston aged gracefully into renewed dominance, and would-be legends in Los Angeles and Detroit were left wondering what might have been. And it set the stage for the next decade of upheaval: 1995 through 2004.

The new decade opened with a familiar sight: Chicago on top once again. The Bulls trio of Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, and Larry Johnson stormed through the league and captured another championship in 1995, cementing themselves as one of the era’s fiercest units.

But a storm was brewing in South Beach. The Miami Heat—once home to the young phenom Shaquille O’Neal—suddenly found themselves armed with reinforcements. 

Former champion Tim Hardaway brought his savvy and grit, Alonzo Mourning brought his power, and together with Shaq, the Heat looked unstoppable. In 1996, they lived up to the hype, plowing through the postseason to deliver Miami its first-ever title.

Yet glory in Miami was fleeting. When Shaq bolted to Los Angeles the following year, any hope of a Heat dynasty evaporated. And in this altered world, with Kobe Bryant absent from his real-life draft class, the Lakers would not become Shaq’s kingdom of dominance. Instead, it was two familiar champions who reclaimed center stage and extended their legacies.

In Houston, Charles Barkley joined forces with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon. Together they seized control of the league, winning back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998. 

Reality had given Olajuwon two rings during Jordan’s hiatus in ’94 and ’95, but here, the Rockets still found their glory—this time with Barkley powering their run.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, Barkley’s departure in ’93 left John Stockton with the weight of rebuilding. That responsibility turned into opportunity. The Mavericks drafted Grant Hill, and in 1998 they struck gold again by landing Dirk Nowitzki. 

The trio clicked instantly, and by 1999 and 2000, Dallas was back on the throne. For both Barkley and Stockton, the run cemented their place as the most successful players in this alternate NBA history—multiple rings, iconic partnerships, and dynasties written in places no one could have predicted back in 1984.

Not every franchise thrived in this rewritten era. The Chicago Bulls, even without Jordan, still managed to add another championship to their tally in 1995. 

In the end, the contrast is striking: with Jordan, the Bulls captured six titles; without him, they settled for two. Respectable, yes—but nowhere near the dynasty fans remember.

The Houston Rockets avoid this list, their Barkley-boosted run keeping them firmly in the winner’s circle. But two storied franchises—the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers—felt the sharpest sting of alternate history once again. 

Without Kobe Bryant, the Lakers never became a dynasty. Shaq’s post-Miami years in Los Angeles brought no banners, as the Mavericks repeatedly slammed the door shut on their Finals hopes. Detroit, meanwhile, watched helplessly as the East shifted around them, unable to find the spark that defined their real-world 2004 triumph.

Instead, new blood rose to power. Kevin Garnett dragged the Philadelphia 76ers back to glory in 2001, ending an eighteen-year drought since their 1983 championship. 

A year later, the Indiana Pacers, led by the unlikely trio of Glenn Robinson, Lamar Odom, and Jermaine O’Neal, stunned the league by capturing the 2002 title. 

And then came the storybook ending for the New York Knicks: thanks to drafting Allen Iverson back in 1996, the Knicks finally lifted the trophy in 2004, snapping a championship drought that stretched all the way back to the early 1970s.

Even legends found themselves on the wrong side of fate. The San Antonio Spurs, never landing David Robinson or Tim Duncan, missed out on their real-life dynasty.

 

Their lone brush with greatness came in 1995, when a Karl Malone-led squad pushed all the way to the Finals but fell short. As for Robinson and Duncan, they did still join forces—but in Utah, where they made two Conference Finals runs with the Jazz before Robinson’s retirement. Two Hall of Fame careers, but no rings to show for it.

This was the darker side of the decade: franchises denied destiny, icons stripped of glory.

As for 2003, another trio finally reached the mountaintop. Antoine Walker, Shawn Marion, and Pau Gasol broke through, securing their first championship rings. 

Just a year earlier, they had fallen short against the Pacers in the Finals, but this time their resilience paid off and their names were etched into the league’s alternate history books.

That victory along with the Knicks the following year closed the chapter on the second decade of our 40-year journey. And what a decade it was—dynasties rising, legacies shifting, and icons finding their place in this rewritten timeline. But the story is far from over.

As we turn the page, a new era is already taking shape. In 2003, LeBron James arrived as the top pick of the Boston Celtics, a once-storied franchise that hadn’t seen the playoffs since 1995. With Paul Pierce drafted to the Rockets and Walker thriving in Memphis, James became Boston’s first All-Star since Tim Hardaway back in 1993.

But he won’t be alone for long. A 17-year-old Kobe Bryant is on the horizon, expected in the 2004 draft. And in 2005, a 21-year-old Michael Jordan will step onto the stage. Three generational forces—James, Bryant, and Jordan—are about to collide in the same league, reshaping everything we thought we knew.

The next decade promises fireworks, rivalries, and moments that will redefine basketball in this alternate universe. Stay tuned—because if the last 20 years were any indication, the next 10 will be nothing short of historic.