“That’s MJ, he didn’t care”: Penny Hardaway remembers Michael Jordan breaking 1 NBA rule in the middle of playoff series

Memphis Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway looks back on his memories of playing against Michael Jordan fondly. He also remembers the time the Chicago Bulls superstar broke a rule in the middle of the 1995 NBA Playoffs.

On "The Draymond Green Show" on Thursday, Hardaway discussed playing against Michael Jordan when he returned from his first retirement and his top five NBA point guards, among other topics.

Hardaway recalled how Jordan changed jerseys from No. 45 to No. 23 without league approval after a tough Game 1 loss in the playoff series against the Magic.

Hardaway, who was growing into a star for the Orlando Magic as a teammate with Shaquille O'Neal, recalled what occurred ahead of Game 2.

"When he got into the building, it was 45. He was like, you know, it's MJ, but it's 45 man. We played them in the playoffs right after that, and man, Nick Anderson stole his ball, and we won the game off a steal.

"He came back the next game in the 23 and beat us... he said, 'I'm out of the 45.' When he took his jersey off, everybody saw 23 and he looked at the crowd, like, 'Yeah...' He beat us that game, Game 2," Penny Hardaway said.

"That's MJ. He didn't care what David Stern, rest in peace, was saying. He's like, I'm rocking this. Like, y'all got all these rules today, none of that was going on back then."

Jordan and the Bulls were indeed fined by the NBA for the number switch. Originally, it was a $25,000 fine for Game 2. The Bulls were fined $100,000 for Jordan playing the rest of the series with his iconic 23.

The Bulls won Game 2 104-94 with Jordan scoring 38 points. However, Orlando won the series in six games.

Penny Hardaway looks back on facing Tim Hardaway

Among the stars that Penny Hardaway faced throughout his career in the NBA, one stood out to him as a hard-nosed player. Appearing on the "Knuckleheads" podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on Tuesday, Penny talked about the first player that dominated him in the NBA.

"Probably, Tim Hardaway. I think we played them in preseason and, you know, it might have been Tim, if I'm thinking correctly, because he was nasty. Tim was hard, man. Hard-nosed," Penny Hardaway said.

Tim played in the NBA for 14 years, mainly representing the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat, spending six years with each team. When Penny entered the league in 1993, Tim was in the late stage of his tenure with the Warriors.

Tim garnered plenty of recognition during the peak of his career, being a five-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA player. Even though he didn't win an NBA championship, the closest being the Eastern Conference Finals with Miami in 1997, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.