Former Sixers owner said he had a deal to trade Julius Erving for Michael Jordan before the '84 Draft: "Rod Thorn killed that one"

The Chicago Bulls famously selected Michael Jordan third overall in the 1984 NBA Draft. But before they made their pick, the Bulls received strong trade offers from the Dallas Mavericks, who owned the fourth pick, and the Philadelphia 76ers , who picked fifth.

While it's unknown what the Mavs' offer was, former Sixers team owner Harold Katz revealed that he believed he had MJ in the bag after talking with Chicago's ownership about acquiring their pick.

"I thought I had a deal with Jonathan Kovler (then the principal owner) of the Bulls for the third pick," Katz said on " Pat Williams' Tale of the 1982-83 Sixers " via the Chicago Tribune. "Rod Thorn (then the Bulls' general manager) killed that one and took Michael Jordan. I would have made that deal."

The Bulls weren't sure about MJ

Although Kovler never confirmed Katz's claim, the story could be true because, on Draft Night, Rod Thorn admitted that the Bulls were hesitant about picking Jordan with their third pick. Aside from being too thin, Chicago's GM was wary about Mike's ability to shoot the ball.

"Back then, the knock on Michael was that he couldn't shoot the ball," Thorn recalled . "When we looked at him for the draft, he was 195 pounds and 6'6", so he was kind of thin. So the biggest thing about him was, can he make a shot? We wondered what kind of shooter he'd be."

Despite their concern about Jordan, Thorn banked on the guarantee given by his good buddy and MJ's college coach, Dean Smith, who told him that Jordan would be better in the NBA than he was in the NCAA. Coach Smith couldn't have been more correct.

Related: Dean Smith on Michael Jordan's development at UNC: "His big jump was when he grew between his freshmen and sophomore year"

What was the Sixers' offer to the Bulls?

According to Katz, the Sixers were willing to part with a 33-year-old Julius Erving , who finished sixth in the MVP voting during the 1983-84 campaign. One season earlier, Dr. J led the Sixers to a four-game sweep of Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals to win their third overall championship and first since 1967.

Had they decided to trade Erving for the rights to draft Mike, Philly would have its fifth pick. If that happened, Jordan and Charles Barkley, whom the Sixers selected that year, would have ended up as teammates in Philadelphia. But ultimately, Thorn kept the third pick and used it to draft Jordan.

Erving played until the 1986-87 season. Meanwhile, MJ led the Bulls to six NBA championships during the '90s and retired as the greatest basketball player of all time.

Related: "He was scoring a lot of points, but he was trying to find himself" - Julius Erving recalls beating the young Michael Jordan