Former NBA star Baron Davis got the opportunity to share a locker room with Michael Jordan for the first and only time at the 2002 All-Star Game. It was an unforgettable experience for Davis, but Jordan wasn’t all too nice to him. During an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, Davis revealed how Jordan turned down his requests.
“Jordan was cool,” Davis said. “I remember like damn man, Mike hella cool. He talking to everybody. He’s talking s*** to everybody. And then I was like, ‘Hey man, let me get them shoes.’ He was like, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘No?’ He had a box full of shoes, let me get a pair of shoes.
“He was like, ‘Nah,’” Davis continued. “I was like, ‘Can you sign this?’ He was like, ‘Nah.’ I was like, ‘Oh, you joking, I’ll be back at halftime.’ [I was like,] ‘Homie I’mma need you to sign these shoes.’ He was like, ‘No, I’m not f***ing with you.'”
Davis realized Jordan was being dead serious when he said he wasn’t giving him any shoes or an autograph. He was then forced to resort to other means to get his hands on some memorabilia.
“Waited till the end of the game,” Davis stated. “You know how you got to sign the jerseys and all that. Oh man, I swiped me one right in there.”
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Desperate times do call for desperate measures.
Davis was an injury replacement for Vince Carter in that All-Star game in Philadelphia and finished the night with two points (1-5 FG), one rebound, and five assists. Jordan, meanwhile, had eight points (4-13 FG), four rebounds, three assists, and two steals, as the East lost 135-120 to the West.
Philadelphia-native Kobe Bryant stole the show that night with 31 points (12-25 FG), five rebounds, five assists, and one steal. The crowd infamously booed Bryant during the game, though, and also when he got the MVP award.
Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers had, of course, beaten the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2001 NBA Finals. He had also stated, “I’ll cut their heart out” before the series, and all that certainly had not gone down too well.
Getting back to Jordan, his not giving autographs isn’t a surprise. He signed a deal with Upper Deck in 1992 and made a business decision to stop signing shoes, jerseys, or whatever else for fans. If you want some signed Jordan memorabilia, you’ll only get it at one place, and the lack of supply makes them extremely valuable.
