Bulls equipment manager disproves story that MJ put on his shorts backwards during his first game back in 1995: "That's a quality control problem at Champion"

In 1995, Michael Jordan announced that he was returning to the NBA after spending a year and a half chasing his baseball dream. MJ returned on March 29, 1995, in a game between the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers at the Market Square Arena.

But more than Michael's triumphant return to the sport that he took to the next level, much of the conversation after the game dwelled on Jordan being so nervous that he wore his shorts backward during the game.

A couple of days later, Bulls equipment manager Ligmanowski disproved that theory. Ligmanowski showed reporters the actual shorts that MJ wore and proved that Mike wore them correctly. It was just that the equipment manufacturer made a mistake in sewing the NBA logo on MJ's shorts.

"Champion sewed the logo on the back of the shorts instead of the front of the shorts," Ligmanowski said. "So he had his shorts on right, just that the logo was sewed on the back of his shorts instead of the front of the shorts. That's a quality control problem at Champion, not Michael not knowing how to put his shorts on."

Larry Jordan made up a story that Mike was nervous

Jordan shocked the world when he retired after the Bulls won a third consecutive NBA title in 1993. Although there were many speculations about his departure from basketball, MJ said he wanted to chase his childhood dream of playing professional baseball. But when that wasn't about to happen, he returned to the game he truly loved.

Even after Ligmanowski cleared the matter, the story of Jordan's nerves getting the best of him in his comeback game continued. Even Michael's brother Larry had his own tale while talking with ESPN in 2009.

"I remember I was watching the game at a sports bar with one of my friends and I started laughing and said, 'My brother has his shorts on backwards.' I'm sure he was probably nervous being away from the game for almost two years," said Larry.

Mike blamed the shorts for his bad game

In the moment, even Michael didn't think about wearing shorts with a factory defect. MJ scored only 19 points on 7-28 FG shooting with three turnovers in 43 minutes of playing time. After the game, he even blamed his shorts for playing badly that night .

"Must be why I played so bad," MJ told reporters during the postgame interviews.

But everyone knew that Michael struggled in that game because it was his first taste of NBA action in 21 months and he did not have the benefit of having training camp or preseason. Four games later, he dropped that iconic double nickel game at Madison Square Garden to remind the rest of the league that he's indeed back.

Related: "I'm going to pay the window sticker price" - When Michael Jordan shocked a car dealer by buying seven cars together