After the 1997-98 season, Jordan retired for the second time (he later returned to the N.B.A. with the Washington Wizards), Pippen joined the Houston Rockets and Jackson left for Los Angeles to be the Lakers’ head coach, going on to win five championships with them.

Reinsdorf and Krause tried to rebuild with young players after those departures, but the Bulls had five losing seasons, and Krause resigned near the end of the 2002-3 season.

Krause, a two-time N.B.A. executive of the year, had a tense relationship with both Jordan and Jackson.

Jordan was especially annoyed when Krause traded Oakley, a rugged forward and his protector on the court, to the Knicks in a 1988 deal that brought center Bill Cartwright to the Bulls.

“You can never sell your soul to a player,” Krause told The New York Times in 2014. “Michael barked a lot to the press about the Oakley deal and later on about bringing over Toni Kukoc. To be honest, we never really talked about personnel, except when we brought in Dennis Rodman. But I always had Jerry Reinsdorf’s support to do what he hired me to do.”

Before the Bulls opened their 1997-98 season, in search of a sixth championship, Krause was quoted as saying that players and coaches do not win championships; organizations do. Krause said later that he had been misquoted when one word — “alone,” after “championships” — was dropped, but it seemed that he was promoting himself at the expense of Jordan and Jackson.