Thirty years ago, the Chicago Bulls got the band back together when star Michael Jordan returned to the NBA in 1995, and he led the team to a second three-peat over the following three seasons.
Those three championship banners and the first set of banners all received damage during a rock concert by the bands Disturbed, Stevendust, and Three Days Grace on March 1. The pyrotechnics heated the lower part of the banners and warped them, according to the Chicago Tribune, which first reported the story. The United Center staff had the banners removed for repair.
For the first time since the United Center opened in 1994, no Bulls championship banners will adorn the rafters from the Jordan-led dynasty. Jordan was retired when the new stadium opened to replace Chicago Stadium, which became a national stage amid Jordan’s early years and the first half of the Bulls dynasty. While Jordan became the epicenter of the game in the late 1980s and 1990s, the Bulls assembled a strong team around him with head coach Phil Jackson and forward Scottie Pippen. A Jordan statue outside a gate at the stadium became a fixture in 1994 amid Jordan’s first retirement.
Amid the Bulls’ dominance, the franchise moved into the top three all-time for NBA championships with six during that time behind the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. Chicago slipped to fourth all-time when the Golden State Warriors, coached by former 1990s Bulls guard Steve Kerr, won four titles between 2015 and 2022 to push that franchise’s total to seven. The San Antonio Spurs, whom Kerr also played for in the 2000s, threatened the Bulls’ title total with five between 1999 and 2014.
Chicago’s dominance captured the nation’s attention in the 1990s so much so that their legacy continued years later when the documentary “The Last Dance” came out in 2020. That series documented how the Bulls made one last run in 1998 before ownership disbanded the core of the team, and the franchise hasn’t been the same since.
Bulls fans have endured 14 losing seasons in the past 27 years, and only 12 of those teams made the playoffs. The Bulls had six-straight losing seasons after Jordan retired, and the franchise is mired in another rough patch amid six losing seasons in the past seven years.
In that span, the Bulls have had eight different head coachs, and the team has fielded only seven different All-Star players. The Bulls notably had no All-Stars from 1999 to 2010, and Chicago hasn’t had an All-Star player again since 2023.
Chicago made the Eastern Conference Finals once since 1998, which came in 2010–2011 under former head coach Tom Thibodeau led by league MVP Derrick Rose. After Rose tore his ACL the following season, the Bulls have had six playoff appearances in 13 years and never further than the conference semifinals.
This year’s team sits at 28–38 with a chance to make the play-tournament under fifth-year head coach Billy Donovan. The Bulls have made the play-in tournament the past two seasons but didn’t make the playoffs.
Chicago played its first home game since the banner incident on Thursday in a 116–110 win over the Brooklyn Nets (22–44) with a clear gap in the rafters. Bulls guard Coby White led the way with 31 points. Chicago has road games ahead until March 27 when the Bulls host the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Epoch Times reached out to Disturbed’s management regarding the damage to the banners but didn’t receive a reply before press time.
