I know that he was extremely popular/famous and there was a lot of interest in him, but being a famous player doesn’t have to be the same as being a loved player.
For example, in todays game, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are both very famous players in the league who get a lot of attention from media and from Basketball fans, but Curry is a player who seems to be almost universally liked, not many fans have negative feelings about him. Durant on the other hand is as media famous as Curry, but he is less loved, a lot of regular fans have negative feelings about him.
So how was it with Jordan? Yes he was extremely famous. But was he liked/loved by many Basketball fans (apart from Bulls Fans of course)? Or was he just respected? Did many even have negative feelings about him?
No, even Maradona and Pele were not bigger.
Everyone just about everywhere knew who MJ was, even if they’d never watched or played a game of basketball.
Same with Pele. I knew two things about soccer growing up in the 90s. Some guy got shot in Colombia after losing the world cup and Pele.
Everyone knew Pele.
This is just wrong on a global scale, Pele was not a contemporary of MJ but was undoubtedly more famous than any athlete ever to exist pre-social media.