5 fun anecdotes about Michael Jordan’s competitiveness shared by former NBA players

#3 “He went 360 and dunked it”

Magic Johnson wasn’t much of a trash-talker, but as he admitted on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he once made the error of talking trash to Michael Jordan. This was during one of the 1992 Dream Team practices when Magic Johnson’s team was competing against Jordan’s team. Johnson had David Robinson, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin and John Stockton on his side. Jordan, on the other hand, had Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing among his teammates.

The two teams would go at it every day in practice. On day four, Magic’s team jumped to an early 12-2 advantage, leading Magic to tell Michael, “Hey man, if you don’t turn into Air Jordan, we’re going to blow you out today.”

The next thing Johnson knew was that Jordan hit a pair of back-to-back threes. Then, in one of the best moves Johnson had ever seen in his NBA career, Jordan came down the right side, took off and hung in the air, with David Robinson also mid-air while defending him. After Robinson went down, “he [Jordan] went 360 and dunked it, in a practice game.” Johnson and the rest of the guys were just left stunned.

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#4 “I should make you take my shoes off”

Chauncey Billups will soon make his debut as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Billups had a 17-year career in the NBA, where he made five All-Star appearances, winning the NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Appearing last year on The Jump, Billups recounted an episode from his rookie season in 1997-98 where the Boston Celtics were playing Chicago. One of Billups’ teammates, a player called Greg Minor, got into a bit of a scuffle with MJ during the game. Soon after, Jordan went to the free throw line. He looked at Minor and said, “I should make you take my shoes off.”

At that moment, Billups, thoroughly intimidated by Jordan’s aura, looked down and saw MJ wearing his own line of sneakers. Billups admitted he learned a valuable lesson that night and decided never to talk trash to Jordan.

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#5 “Ok young fella, damn, y’all done?”

This one is from Kevin Garnett’s rookie season when the Minnesota Timberwolves were playing in Chicago in February 1996. One of Garnett’s teammates, Isaiah Rider, was having a great game. KG was constantly pumping up Rider, telling him stuff like, "Man, keep going at his [MJ’s] a**, serve him, he can’t guard you."

At some point, Jordan got within earshot of what KG was telling Rider, but KG didn’t back down. He was constantly egging Rider on. Rider even tried to tell Jordan to ignore the young rookie but the damage had been done. Over the next six to seven minutes, Minnesota, who were down only by single digits, now trailed by 20-odd points. Jordan got 17 quick points, forcing Minnesota to take a time out.

As Garnett and the Timberwolves struggled to catch their breath, Jordan walked over to the rookie and asked him, “Ok, young fella, damn, y’all done?”

Garnett admitted, “I never talked sh*t to Mike ever again in life.”