Bucks superstar Damian Lillard has met plenty of celebrities over his 11-year career. But as he shared the court with Michael Jordan during the NBA’s 75th-anniversary All-Star game, he couldn’t help but stare in awe when Michael Jordan took the floor to be recognized in front of the whole world. As Lillard went on to explain on the ‘Knuckleheads’ podcast, Jordan has a powerful aura about him that is unlike anything Dame had seen before.
“I come to All-Star every year and usually when I was younger we take these pictures and it will be LeBron, and Kobe, and Dirk, and Tim Duncan, and Dwight, and they would be the ones talking. But this time it was like Magic and Kareem doing all the chatter… when we get in the hallway, we see MJ walking towards us. He’s walking and there were more cameras on him by himself than there were for all of us and that’s when you really saw the difference of like… this dude the GOAT! I still ain’t met him, I was just standing next to Clyde staring at him like… that’s Jordan!”
“That’s when u really saw the difference of…like this dude the GOAT!” @Dame_Lillard talks about how being in the Top 75 all time made that All-Star experience hit different but he also points out how even in the presence of the NBA’s All Time Greats, MJ still stands out and… pic.twitter.com/5kRtRlgzKo
— Quentin Richardson (@QRich) November 22, 2023
Jordan’s arrival at the All-Star event that year broke the internet. After missing the initial introductions, Jordan was fashionably late to the event, only arriving shortly before his appearance at half-time. While the NBA legend didn’t have much to say, his mere presence at the time caught worldwide attention and it reminded everyone that his legacy has transcended the game itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ0Rj5U3w-8
The fact that even Damian Lillard, a superstar in his own right, was frozen in place with awe says all you need to know about Michael Jordan’s legacy in the game and his place among the greatest athletes to ever walk the planet.
Michael Jordan’s Popularity Is Unprecedented
Stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry have become global ambassadors to the game of basketball and they have defined the game as we know it today. Back in the 90s, however, Michael Jordan had a certain degree of fame and popularity that no player has experienced since. During the peak of his run, which included six NBA championships, MJ was arguably the most famous person on the planet with countless endorsement deals, an obscene media following, and a net worth that stretched into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Thanks to the run of the 1992 “Dream Team” and the hit release of 1996’s ‘Space Jam,’ Jordan was able to expand his legacy even further and he earned millions of new fans.
Today, even several decades after his most recent championship, Jordan’s career is still revered to the same degree it was back then. As the GOAT in the eyes of many today, even fellow players feel a certain type of way when meeting MJ for the first time and it’s not hard to figure out why considering the impact he’s had on sports history in America and around the world.
Is Jordan Still The GOAT?
Obviously, picking the NBA’s greatest player ever is entirely subjective but no person has a stronger case than Jordan, who had no weaknesses in his game. As a winner, scorer, playmaker, and elite perimeter defender, Michael did everything for the Bulls and he made a habit out of willing his team to victory. While a similar argument could be made for LeBron James, nobody did it better than 23 and it’s why even today (many years later) experts are reluctant to pick anybody over the Chicago Bulls legend.
The NBA’s 75th ceremony was really just a reminder of Jordan’s supernatural aura and that he’s really on a level of his own when it comes to being a living sports legend who inspired countless players to chase their goals and become the best version of themselves.
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