Random Wild Stories And Rumors About Michael Jordan (21 items)

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  (#3) Jordan Allegedly Bet $20k On A Game Of Rock, Paper, Scissors

  Jay Williams, who had a career-ending motorcycle accident following his rookie season (2002-03) with the Bulls, spoke about the economics of being a young NBA star and the culture of gambling in an appearance on the Brilliant Idiots podcast in 2015.  Among other things, Williams talked about teammates who went up against Jordan when making bets:

  "I used to have dudes on our team who were messing around with MJ. And MJ was like, ‘Bet it back, bet this back.' And I’m like, ‘Why are you f***ing with the big bank? Why are you f***ing with Brand Jordan? He can't lose. Last year he made $150 million, how are you messing with him?'"

  Williams called this type of gambling part of the experience of being an NBA player: "Think about gambling to the next degree. Rock, paper, scissors you bet $20,000 all day long. Why wouldn’t you? You get bored."  He added that if another player found himself in the hole by $100,000, Jordan might say something like:

  "'Yo bet it back -- rock, paper, scissors for $100,000.'"
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  (#11) Jordan Accused Teammate Horace Grant Of Being A Snitch

  In The Last Dance documentary, Jordan accused Horace Grant of being a snitch, spilling the Bulls' locker room secrets to reporter Sam Smith, allegedly giving Smith much of the material for his 1992 book The Jordan Rules. "I didn't contribute to that," Jordan said. "That was Horace. He was telling everything that was happening within the group."

  Grant has always denied being Smith's source, but in the days after the final episode of the 10-part documentary aired on ESPN in May 2020, he doubled down on his denial, telling ESPN Chicago "That is a downright, outright, completely lie. Lie, lie, lie. And as I stated, if M.J. had a grudge with me, let's settle it like men. Let's talk about it, or we can settle it another way. Yet and still, he puts out this lie out that I was the source behind it. Sam and I have always been great friends, we're still great friends. But the sanctity of that locker room, I would never put anything personal out there."

  Grant went on to say that Jordan himself was a 'snitch' for talking about what went on during his first years as a Bull. "My point is, he says I was the snitch, but still after 35 years he brings up his rookie year, going into one of his teammates rooms and seeing coke and weed and women. My point is, why did he want to bring that up? What does that got to do with anything? If you want to call somebody a snitch, that's a damn snitch right there."
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  (#5) Jordan Was Notoriously Mean To Certain Teammates, But Claims That Was Purely To Help 'Toughen' Them Up

  One reason Jordan feared viewers of The Last Dance would think he's "a horrible guy" is because of how he treated Scott Burrell. Prior to the April 2020 premiere of the documentary he told The Athletic, "The reason why I was treating him like that is because I needed him to be tough in the playoffs and we're facing the Indianas and Miamis and New Yorks in the Eastern Conference. He needed to be tough and I needed to know that I could count on him."

  When Burrell went on ESPN's Get Up in May 2020, he stated, "People consider it bullying what Michael did. I think it was just challenging people to be the best person they can be." But he admitted that he didn't think Jordan's tactics would work in the current NBA.

  Burrell wasn't the only teammate who Jordan claimed he singled out in an attempt to motivate the other player to prove to Jordan that the superstar would be able to count on him in a big moment. Jordan and Steve Kerr got into a fight in practice that resulted in Jordan giving Kerr a black eye after Kerr hit him in the chest. Currently the head coach of the Golden State Warriors but back then a reserve sharp-shooting guard for the Bulls, Kerr told NBA on TNT that the 1995 training camp incident improved the relationship between himself and Jordan. “I feel like I passed the test and he trusted me more afterwards.”

  Jordan also believed the incident with Kerr was beneficial. He is quoted in Phil Jackson's book Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success as saying, "It made me look at myself, and say, ‘You know what? You’re really being an idiot about this whole process [of trusting his teammates].'" 

  According to Robert Parish, he was another Jordan target. The future Hall of Fame center joined the Bulls for his final season in the NBA. When Parish messed up a drill during training camp allegedly warned him not to get it wrong again. “I told him, ‘I’m not as enamored with you as these other guys. I’ve got some rings too,’” Parish recalled to Essentially Sports. “At that point he told me, ‘I’m going to kick your a**.’ I took one step closer and said, ‘No, you really aren’t.’ After that he didn’t bother me.”
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  (#12) Jordan Hates Isiah Thomas, But Claims He Didn't Keep Thomas Off The Olympic 'Dream Team'

  It's no secret that there is a long-running feud between Jordan and Isiah Thomas. In The Last Dance documentary, Jordan openly admitted that he hates the Hall of Fame guard, even as he called him the second best point guard in NBA history. The documentary has reignited the feud and caused the question of whether Jordan was responsible for Thomas being left off the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team (the "Dream Team").

  It's not clear what started the feud. Some point to a theory that Thomas conspired to freeze the rookie Jordan out in the 1985 All-Star Game - an allegation that Thomas has denied. Others suggest that Thomas - a native of Chicago - was jealous that Jordan had come along and become a superstar in that city. Then there's the fact that Thomas and his Detroit Pistons' teammates were the roadblock standing in Jordan's path to the NBA Finals - Detroit defeated the Bulls in three straight playoff meetings between 1987-88 and 1989-90, going on to win the NBA championship in the latter two seasons.

  When Chicago finally broke through and swept Detroit in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons left the floor before the final buzzer sounded, refusing to congratulate the victors. Jordan was among the Bulls' players who considered that a classless act, and he still holds that event against Thomas, “There’s no way,” Jordan said, “you can convince me he wasn’t an a–hole.”

  In The Last Dance, Jordan denied that had any influence in the decision to leave Thomas off the "Dream Team" roster. “You want to attribute it to me, go ahead and be my guest. But it wasn’t me.” And Jordan wasn't the only other NBA star who allegedly didn't particularly want the Pistons' guard on the team. But Jordan's denial contradicts a quote in Jack McCallum's book Dream Team in which the Bulls' superstar allegedly told Rod Thorn [who was responsible for assembling the roster], "Rod, I don't want to play if Isiah is on the tea.,"
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  (#2) He Once Got Revenge On A Player For Saying "Good Game, Mike" - Which Didn't Actually Happen

  Michael Jordan is known for holding grudges and for taking things that people might say to or about him as personal slights. And, it turns out, sometimes he has taken offense to things that weren't actually said.

  On March 19, 1993, Washington Bullets' guard LaBradford Smith went off for a career-high 37 points in a road loss to the Chicago Bulls. Following the contest, Smith reportedly told Jordan "good game, Mike." Claiming that he felt Smith was mocking him, Jordan supposedly told people that he would drop 37 points against Smith in the first half of the teams' next meeting. Well, that next meeting turned out the very next night. Jordan didn't quite live up to his boast - he only managed to score 36 points prior to halftime.

  Years later Jordan admitted that Smith never said "good game, Mike" - the superstar had just made up this story to give himself some added motivation because he felt embarrassed that an unheralded player like Smith had torched the Bulls.
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  (#13) Jordan And Charles Barkley Are No Longer Friends Because Sir Charles Talked Smack About How MJ Ran The Bobcats

  Although Jordan and Charles Barkley were fierce rivals on the court, for years they were close friends and gambling buddies off of it. But the friendship fell apart in 2012 after Barkley criticized Jordan's success as a part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats (and his earlier tenure as the president of the Washington Wizards).

  "I think the biggest problem has been I don't know if he has hired enough people around him who he will listen to," Barkley told The Waddle & Silvy Show. "One thing about being famous is the people around you, you pay all their bills so they very rarely disagree with you because they want you to pick up the check. They want to fly around on your private jet so they never disagree with you. I don't think Michael has hired enough people around him who will disagree."

  Eight years later, in the wake of The Last Dance documentary airing on ESPN, Barkley was back on the same radio show discussing the broken friendship. He said that, until the falling out, he thought his willingness to be honest with Jordan was one of the reasons why they had been great friends. “‘I [MJ] can ask Charles anything and I know he’s going to give me a straight answer,’ but… I can’t go on TV and say another general manager sucks and then just because Michael is like a brother to me say he’s doing a fantastic job. That would be disingenuous.”

  The TNT analyst admitted the rift between the two men  “[is] Really, really sad because the guy was like a brother to me for 20-something years, at least 20-something years,” Barkley said. “I feel sadness, but like I said, to me he’s still the greatest basketball player ever. I wish him nothing but the best, but hey, there’s nothing I can do about it.” He went on to say that if the friendship could be repaired it would have to be on Jordan's terms and joked that Jordan had his phone number and could call him whenever he liked.

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