It is a well-known thing—particularly when entering high school athletics—that cuts within a team are a dominant factor in sports, no matter the player. Cuts in sports are not allowing or giving an athlete a spot on the team’s roster. Now, while the idea of being cut from a team is a petrifying thought among many athletes,—being cut is associated with not being good enough— what if being cut is not necessarily a bad thing? What if this is a needed step to propel you further into your career? 

Although it may be difficult to believe, being cut from a team is something that even the most famous of the upper echelon athletes have experienced. This brings up the following question: If these athletes are so well-known, could being cut from a sports team really have been a setback? 

Michael Jordan, one of the all-time most talented and famous basketball players, is a prime example of this. 

During MJ’s sophomore year of high school, he was cut from the varsity basketball team of his school and instead given a spot on the JV team. No matter who experiences this, being cut or sent down is a confusing and heartbreaking thing to try to understand as an athlete. While Jordan could have up and walked away after this news, he chose to play his sophomore season on the JV team and ended up shining on the court.

Rather than walking away at what may have been an unwanted opportunity on JV, Jordan took this as a chance to grow; spending countless hours working in and out of practice led him to propel in his following years. As Jordan entered his junior year of high school, he was given a spot on the varsity team and continued to shine. From that point on, he has become one of the most well-known and cherished basketball players on all levels and received countless awards such as being a McDonald’s All-American his senior year and winning an NCAA national title in his time spent at UNC, as well as the multiple NBA championships and MVP’s he accomplished in his NBA career. 

Everything happens for a reason. Now, yes, being cut from a team is something that no one wants to experience, I am sure this experience was not at the top of Jordan’s bucket list, but what if his year spent on JV was the soul factor that propelled him to create the name he holds today?  Would Michael Jordan even be Michael Jordan if he had not been cut his sophomore year? 

While yes, no one is Michael Jordan and everyone’s experience with being cut is exponentially different from others, but when we look at all of the factors, is being cut from a team really a bad thing?