Exactly 18 years ago, Michael Jordan came out of his retirement a second time to join the Washington Wizards.

The 38-year-old signed a deal with the Wizards for two years in 2001, three years after his second retirement from the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan sold his 10% stake in the Wizards and stepped down from his position as their president of basketball operations in order to join the team. He also donated his first-year $1 million salary to victims of 9/11.

With Washington, Jordan started in 120 games and averaged just over a 40% field goal percentage with a 24.1% three-point percentage. Though his stats weren't as strong as in Chicago, Jordan still made some memorable plays with the Wizards, like this block/steal of Ron Mercer.

Prior to breaking his three-year retirement, Jordan had played over a dozen seasons in Chicago -- with a one-year retirement during the 1993-94 season. Four seasons later, Jordan retired for a second timebefore signing with the Wizards.

The hope was that Jordan, who led Chicago to six championships in 13 seasons, could revive Washington's role in the playoffs. That never came to fruition, and Jordan announced his retirement a third and final time after the 2002-03 season.

MORE WIZARDS NEWS:

WASHINGTON -- The Wizards have so many injuries going into training camp that head coach Scott Brooks needed help remembering them all atmedia day on Monday.

On his first attempt, he forgot about C.J. Miles, who is still limited after having foot surgery in July. Then there's Isaiah Thomas (thumb), Troy Brown Jr. (calf) and of course John Wall (Achilles).

But Brooks also had a new injury to report. Backup center Ian Mahinmi is dealing with Achilles pain and won't be a full participant when practices begin Tuesday.

"It's nothing serious," Brooks said of Mahinmi. "But we have some challenges ahead right now with our limited guys during training camp."

Mahinmi, of course, is not expected to play heavy minutes this season. He may not play much at all, even if he's healthy, due to depth at his position and the fact he has not been particularly productive in recent years.

Mahinmi getting this season off to an ominous start is not a great sign he will be able to rewrite the narrative of his career in Washington. This is the fourth and final year of the $64 million free-agent contract he signed in the summer of 2016 and so far he has not exactly lived up to the deal.

In three years with the Wizards, Mahinmi has averaged 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Certainly, the Wizards would like to see him do something to justify his $15.5 million salary this season. He's 32 and now nursing an Achilles injury, so expectations should be set accordingly.

MORE WIZARDS NEWS:

A select few NBA stars had the honor of receiving an invite to Kobe Bryant's exclusive training camp session back in August.

Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas was one of the 10players to participate in the camp.

A great opportunity and recognitionfor Thomas to get hand-picked by a future NBA Hall of Famer, but Thomas is not giving away many details on what happened at 'Mamba Camp.'

"We watched film with him. We did mind things with him. We did a lot. I don't want to say all the things because he might get mad. He was trying to keep like where no one knows what went down," Thomas said on Wizards media day.

Clearly Bryant is Tyler Durden and has created his own version of Fight Club. And if there is one thing we all know about fight club, you don't talk about fight club. Thomas might have revealed too much when talking to the Wizards media.

Thomas says that he and Bryant have had a relationship for a while and even called him "the best player to play the game". Never, though, had he received the instruction from the Lakers legend before this camp.

This camp could very well be exactly what the eight-year veteran needed to bounce back after the last stretch of his career. Since being traded from the Celtics in 2017 he has played in 44 games over two seasons for three separate teams. Thomas went from being a two-time All-Star in Boston to being sent around the league as an adequate backup.

In Washington, he may get the chance to start again in John Wall's absence.

From the wise words of Tyler Durden: "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."

MORE WIZARDS NEWS:

Go here to read the rest:

On this day: Michael Jordan came out of retirement to play for the Wizards - NBCSports.com