10 Star Trek Episodes That Never Got Made
4. Deep Space Jam
Actor Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake Sisko once pitched an episode to the Deep Space Nine writer's room. It would have seen Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan go into space two years prior to 1996's Space Jam. In a subplot to an episode about one of Quark's schemes causing havoc on the station, Lofton proposed a disagreement between Sisko and his son.
The source of their dispute would be Jake's new-found interest in basketball, to the disappointment of his baseball obsessed father. Their argument would culminate in father and son receiving words of wisdom from Michael Jordan in the Holosuite. At the time of Lofton's pitch, Jordan had left basketball to pursue a career as a baseball player, thus bridging the gap between the two Sisko boys.
Lofton believed that the presentation of Jordan as both a basketball and baseball legend would appeal to Michael Jordan's ego, but the DS9 production team weren't convinced. The proposal was dropped, but Lofton enjoyed the experience even if he was more convinced of Jordan's involvement than the production team. Avery Brooks had promised his on-screen son that he could "get Jordan" as he was friends with the star's father. As the story wasn't picked up, Brooks never had to call in that favour from James R Jordan.