The NBA is a highly competitive league. With so many great players and dominant teams, the race to the top can often get pretty intense — especially when it involves the very best players in the game.
Back in the 80s and 90s, this was felt to an even higher degree. Back then, Michael Jordan and his Bulls were always having intense and highly physical showdowns that often spilled over to become legendary rivalries.
During his prime, Jordan was notorious for his approach to the game, which saw him treat his opponents like road kill every single night.
So when MJ got the chance to team up with so of those guys during the All-Star games, it was an experience he came to cherish because of the unique perspective it gave him.
“It’s a fan appreciation time,” said Jordan in a 1998 interview. “You come out and you entertain the fans. They get a chance to touch everyone that are stars in the league and get a chance to meet some of the other guys that you compete with all season long. I enjoyed the time I spent with Bird and Magic and those types of guys because I competed so hard against them, it was nice to see what type of people they were.”
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It seems like many stars today see All-Star weekend as a time to rest more than anything else. But to Jordan, besides giving the fans a show, All-Star festivities were about getting to know the competition.
Michael Jordan Used Cards To Bond With Magic And Charles Barkley
All-Star weekend wasn’t the only opportunity that Jordan had to form connections with other team stars. During his time with Team USA, MJ was notorious for the poker nights that had him staying up until the early hour of the morning.
“We played cards every night, all night. We needed at least a power nap in there,” said Charles Barkley on ‘The Steam Room.’ “But we played cards every single night. Another person who would come is Scottie. So me, Michael, Magic, and Scottie would play cards every single night. We’d gather from like eight o’clock at night to six in the morning, then we’d run to the room and take a quick power nap and go to practice. It was crazy.”
So, while MJ was an assassin and killer on the court, he wasn’t opposed to the idea of getting to know some of his biggest rivals. He played cards with them, connected with them, and really tried to know more about who they were.
Somehow, it never dulled a flame of his competitive spirit.
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