Gifts for Ukrainians, fear of water, and a sliced stomach: 23 lesser-known facts about Michael Jordan.
The website Champion decided to commemorate the birthday of a remarkable athlete by recalling 23 facts about him.
We avoided the well-known details: the number of titles, MVPs, personal records, career endings, and comebacks. Our goal was to uncover things that even die-hard basketball fans might have forgotten or perhaps never knew.
Debut season in college and a turning point in his career
In the summer of 1981, 18-year-old Michael enrolled at the University of North Carolina, where he had previously attended a camp and made a strong impression on the university team coach, Dean Smith.
The new environment negatively affected Jordan, who played alongside James Worthy and Sam Perkins. Compared to his high school days, his teammates were of a significantly higher caliber. Additionally, Coach Smith positioned Michael as a shooting guard with an emphasis on defense, which was unusual for the young player – he was used to focusing on offense.
Despite this, Michael quickly adapted to his new role and position, earning a spot in the starting lineup. Strong teammates, an excellent coach, and MJ himself led North Carolina to a championship title.
In the semifinals, they defeated the University of Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, and in the finals, they overcame Georgetown University with Patrick Ewing. In that game, Jordan was the true hero. His last shot became the championship-winning basket. Later, Michael referred to that shot as a turning point in his career.
Michael finished his first season in NCAA with averages of 13.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists, earning the title of Rookie of the Year. Not a bad start, right?
The greatest fear in life: a crucial miss, a serious injury, or... water?
For many, Michael Jordan's image is that of a maximalist basketball player who hates losing, making defeat his greatest fear. But that's not entirely accurate. The reality is much more grounded.
In 1992, Jordan gave an interview to the magazine "Playboy", where he confessed why he is repelled by swimming and water itself.
But that wasn't the only instance of this nature.
When Jordan was 11, he nearly drowned in a baseball camp pool. Fortunately, a passerby saved the future basketball legend. During his college years, his girlfriend drowned in a pool.
The first-ever two-time slam dunk contest champion
MJ first participated in the slam dunk contest in his rookie season. In 1985, he had a fierce battle with Dominique Wilkins, who relied on his power, while Jordan aimed to impress everyone with his elegant moves.
Fans witnessed both players performing nine dunks each (yes, back then, players had to work hard). However, due to two unsuccessful attempts in the finals, Michael lost.
After taking a break, Jordan returned to the contest in 1987, where his main competitor was Jerome Kersey from Portland. Consistently high scores in all three final attempts earned Michael his first title as contest champion.
The following year, he defended his title, and Wilkins returned for a rematch. Clyde Drexler joined them, but he significantly lagged behind both competitors in the semifinals.
After two final attempts, Jordan was trailing Wilkins by three points, who had received two scores of 50. The Bulls player needed a miracle to avoid losing to the same opponent again. And that miracle happened! Jordan received a 50, while Dominique was awarded only 45. Ultimately, Michael Jordan became the first two-time slam dunk contest champion. Is it worth mentioning that the second battle with Wilkins took place in Chicago?
The worst individual performances
Even the greatest have bad days, and Michael Jordan was no exception. Although there are nuances even in his case.
Everyone is used to Jordan being the highest-scoring player on his team. And indeed, that was the case. But when he returned to the NBA for a second time with Washington, he had two very unusual outings.
5On April 2, 2002, in a game against the Lakers, Michael scored only two points in 12 minutes on the court, making just one field goal. It's no surprise that the Wizards suffered a crushing defeat, 93:113.
Eight months later, on December 15 of the same year, Jordan repeated his two-point failure. On the one hand, he performed significantly worse: one of nine field goals in 40 minutes. On the other hand, Washington won this time. And yes, the opponent was only Toronto (95:82).
Salary in the last season with the Bulls
The best players in the league should earn the highest salaries. This is a rather obvious statement, which, unfortunately, does not always hold true in today's times.
Jordan truly began earning big money only two years before his second retirement. In the 1996/97 season, he earned $30 million, and in the 1997/98 season – $33 million. It's frightening to imagine what kind of sums MJ would command in today's market with current salaries.
Indirect conflict with Pippen
In April 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the miniseries "The Last Dance" was released, detailing Michael Jordan's career in Chicago. The series paid special attention to the final season of the greatest in Bulls jersey.
What was shown and discussed in this series angered Jordan's former teammate Scottie Pippen so much that he decided to burn all bridges a year and a half later.
6As part of the promotion for his book "Unguarded", Pippen criticized Jordan, accusing him of narcissism and belittling the contributions of other Chicago players during the championship seasons, claiming that Michael took all the glory for himself while the losses were assigned to anyone but him.
It got to the point where Scottie decided to change his opinion about the greatest player, transferring that status to LeBron James. Then Pippen accused Jordan of never winning the Best Defensive Player award because "all the journalists only looked at Jordan."
How did Michael respond to all this? He didn't respond at all; he refrained from commenting on the former friend's remarks, who occasionally resurfaced.
Son dating Pippen's ex-wife
Perhaps Pippen has another reason to be angry with Jordan, aside from "The Last Dance." A more scandalous reason.
In January 2023, news emerged that Michael's son, Marcus Jordan, was dating Scottie's ex-wife, Larsa. Photos surfaced showing the couple kissing. They were not shy about showcasing their relationship, and in December of the same year, they hinted at a potential wedding.
7However, it never came to that. Over the next six months, the couple managed to break up, get back together, and then break up again, this time for good.
It’s intriguing to ponder how Scottie would react to their wedding and the fact that Michael's son could have become the stepfather of their four children with Larsa?
Prison, watermelon, samurai sword – what could go wrong?
This is not the most popular story, but it certainly contends for one of the most absurd.
In 2009, a collection of stories titled ESPN published "Who is Michael Jordan." The collection features rare photographs accompanied by short stories from MJ's life. One such story recounts the day when Michael could have died. Again.
In 1982, North Carolina coach Dean Smith received a call from Bill Gless, a person who organized an annual evangelist show for inmates. Gless requested Smith to allow stars from his team to participate, to which the coach declined. However, they soon agreed that Michael Jordan, at that time an unknown basketball player, would take part in the event.
This show took place after Jordan had made his winning shot in the NCAA finals. Therefore, by the time Michael arrived at the inmates’ facility, he was already a star. At first, everything went well: the inmates were thrilled to see the young star and play with him. But what happened next could have cost basketball its future legend.
The show included not only a sports segment but also an entertainment aspect. This was managed by martial arts expert Mike Crane, who, blindfolded, would slice items placed on a volunteer's stomach with a samurai sword.