There’s not a single player in the NBA’s history that would be able to say with complete confidence that they were better than Michael Jordan. Even though some could argue, there is no consensus for any player being better than the Bulls legend. However, no player makes it to the highest level without having unbelievable confidence in themselves and their abilities on the court.
And that means the players that faced MJ always thought they could beat him until they found out they couldn’t. Just ask Vernon Maxwell, who ended up having nightmares of having to guard Jordan before the Rockets had to face the Bulls. But still, every season, the next sensation out of high school and college would feel like they could do what no one else had been able to.
Considering that he was the best player in the country, Jordan also regularly participated in camps for high school students. He ran his camp too, and a few NBA players came through those. One of those players was OJ Mayo, who learned quite the lesson at the hands of MJ too.
Michael Jordan: “You know I’m playing in my camp, against OJ Mayo, he was a top high school kid. Coming out… in front of my camp. He starts this thing, you know, ‘You can’t guard me’, ‘you can’t do this’. You know I got my campers here so I obviously I can’t really go where I want to go because of all my camp.”
OJ Mayo: “And then he said okay, now let me handle my business. And he looked me in my face and said that and I’m like, ‘What you mean?’ So he said I need all the campers, everybody to leave. Let’s clear the gym.”
Michael Jordan: “So from this point on, it’s a lesson. And from that point on, it was a lesson.”
OJ Mayo: “He said, ‘You better scream for mama’, you know, it’s ‘mama’, ‘mama’. You know he hit the famous fadeaway on me and then he said, ‘Hey young fella, let me tell you something.’”
Michael Jordan: “You may be the best high school player, but I’m the best player in the world.”
This is a rough welcome to life in the big leagues for any youngster, but the perspective must have helped Mayo. And there is no shame in being shown up by one of the greatest of all time. Michael Jordan may have dealt with his share of fears and nightmares in his life, but at least he didn’t worry about getting shown up by anyone on the court.
