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

• 

  (#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.
• 

  (#8) The Oakland A's Offered Jordan A Major League Contract In 1994, But He Wanted To Earn His Spot

  According to former Oakland A's GM Sandy Alderson, Jordan could have skipped playing minor league baseball and gone straight to the majors. In a May 2020 Baseball Tonight podcast, Alderson admitted he offered Jordan a major league contract when he heard the White Sox were going to send Jordan to the minors.

  "When I heard that was happening, or about to happen, I called his agent right away and said, 'Hey look, I understand he may be going to Double-A. I don't even know who the 25th man is on our major league team right now, I will sign him and put him on the major league roster," Alderson told Buster Olney. "He'll be part of our 25-man team. Tomorrow.'

  The former GM admitted that the reasoning for his offer was to spur more interest in the A's, who had been 21st in attendance the previous season. According to David Falk, who was Jordan's agent at the time, Jordan turned down the A's offer because he wanted to earn his spot, not just be a gimmick. “I was excited about [the offer], and Michael was very appreciative,” Falk told MLB.com. “But he wanted to do the baseball thing from the ground up. He didn’t feel he deserved a spot on the Major League roster and didn’t feel he was ready. He didn’t want to be a Herb Washington type who would just steal bases and be a part-time outfielder.”

  Loyalty to Jerry Reinsdorf, who owned both the Bulls and the White Sox, also played a role in Jordan's decision. “Michael’s an amazingly loyal guy,” Falk said. “If not for his relationship with the White Sox, [the A’s offer] might have been something he might have done.”
• 

  (#7) There Was Rampant Speculation About The Motives Behind His Father's Murder

  Michael Jordan's father, James, was last seen alive on July 22, 1993. Twenty-one days later, his family told the police that he was missing. One day after making the report, a John Doe who had been found in a swamp in McColl, SC more than a week earlier was identified as being the basketball star's missing father. Two teenagers, Daniel Green and Larry Demery, were eventually convicted, receiving sentences of life in prison. The generally accepted motive for the crime is a robbery gone bad - the elder Jordan had pulled his Lexus off the highway to take a nap and had been shot after waking up to find the two teens attempting to steal the car.

  But in his failed 2018 attempt to receive a new trial, Green disputed many of the claims made in the prosecution's version of events, a version that had been built mainly on Demery's claims, as Green never even took the stand during his trial. Twenty years prior to this attempt to be given a new trial Green refuted his co-defendant's claim that Green had been the one to shoot Jordan.

  "I did not kill Mr. Jordan, no sir," Green told WRAL-TV in 1998. "...that's cut and dry. It's not like I was even there..." Green identified Demery as the actual shooter but went on to say that he felt that both of them were "pawns in a game."

  Although Green didn't elaborate on what kind of game he and Demery may have been part of, his comment suggested that the motive was not as simple as robbery. Which was in line with the media speculation that was prevalent in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Some reporters rushed to suggest that the whole thing was somehow connected to Michael Jordan's well-known gambling habit. The FBI's refusal to rule out any motive for the elder Jordan's murder helped to boost this speculation, as did Jesse Jackson when he called  the murder "a highly calculated gangland-type killing."

  Mark Whicker, who was then a sports columnist with the Orange County (CA) Register, wrote: "For now, we just know that there is evidence of the son's gambling problem, and there is suspicion of a son's paying [off his gambling debts] problem. The father of that son has been murdered. Coincidence, anyone?" 

  The speculation continued even after Demery and Green were arrested. In an August 15, 1993 column in the San Francisco Chronicle, Scott Ostler wrote: "All of us who were cooking up murky theories in the death of Michael Jordan's father have to feel pretty crummy today for having turned the murder into a parlor game, I refuse to feel chagrined for having played 'Who Murdered James Jordan.'" Ostler gave three reasons for his lack of remorse: (1) the teenagers were only suspects; (2) Michael Jordan himself had been carrying on a campaign to cast shadows over his reputation with his links to gambling and crime; and (3) the basketball star was too famous for reporters to just focus on the basketball while ignoring the off-the-court stuff.
• 

  (#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."
• 

  (#18) Muggsy Bogues Claimed That One Taunt From Jordan Messed Up His Shot Forever

  Listed at 5'3", Muggsy Bogues is the shortest person to ever play in the NBA. He had a 14-year career, primarily with the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets and Bulls met in the first round of the 1995 playoffs. Near the end one of those games, Jordan was defending Bogues, who had the ball in his hands with Charlotte down by one point. According to former Bulls' assistant coach Johnny Bach, Jordan backed off Bogues and told him:

  "Shoot it, you f***ing midget."

  Bogues' shot didn't come close to going in. A year later, Bogues reportedly told Bach that he thought that single play ruined his career. Which might be a bit of an exaggeration, considering he played five more seasons in the NBA.

   
• 

  (#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.'"

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking