As described in the recent Last Dance ESPN documentary Michael Jordan suffered an acute undisplaced fracture of the navicular bone in his left foot in a game against the Golden State Warriors on Oct 29th 1985. The fracture was not seen on plain x-rays, but was identified on a CT scan. He needed to be off the foot for 6 weeks while it healed. The navicular bone has a tenuous blood supply and navicular fractures are notorious for healing slowly – or not healing at all. As a result, Jordan’s team the Chicago Bulls wanted him to miss the entire season. This was unacceptable to Jordan who could not imagine not playing once the foot felt healed. As a compromise he was restricted to playing 7 minutes per half until the 1986 playoffs began.
Fortunately, Jordan was young and healthy, and his navicular fracture was undisplaced so it healed well with no ill-effects from this injury. And the rest is history!