Michael Jordan was one of the fiercest competitors in NBA history, as he will the Chicago Bulls to the postseason as soon as he made it to the league. His Airness was relentless even at a young age, playing at an incredible level for a team that had little to no expectations.
MJ never backed down against any challenge, and sometimes he came up with something to motivate himself. But, when people dared to disrespect him, he was ready to fire back, which happened when he was a rookie. Before that season, Reggie Theus was traded to the then Kansas City Kings in exchange for some draft picks.
The Bulls ended up with the 3rd overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft, which allowed them to land Michael Jordan. Following that move, Theus claimed that no rookie could replace him in Chicago, which didn’t sit well with Jordan.
In 2011, Kenny Smith recalled how serious MJ took those words and made it a personal duel against Theus. Jordan vowed to make him pay when they clashed on the court and that’s exactly what he did.
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“Michael was interesting, because we played in college. So I used to, before the game, the night before, we’d go out to eat or go to a hotel room and eat. And he was really mad at Reggie Theus, when Reggie got traded, Michael was the draft pick coming in. And Reggie was like ‘there’s no guy that can replace me that’s a rookie. So he says ‘just tell Reggie that I’m going to get 45 tonight’. So I went to the locker room and I said ‘Reggie, MJ said he was going to get 45 tonight’. So he ended up with 43. He comes into the locker room and says ‘I didn’t get 45 but you gotta come to Chicago’. That’s supreme confidence.”
Jordan didn’t reach the number he wanted but came up short by only 2 points. He was a menace every game, but things could get out of control if somebody tried to get on his nerves. He showed what he would become as soon as he started his NBA career, and that duel against Theus surely was an impressive performance for the player.
MJ ended up winning six NBA championships, six Finals MVPs, and 10 scoring titles in his career. Jordan was extremely competitive and didn’t hesitate to unleash all his power against any rival. He was an incredible trash talker and proved that night in and night out, even asking for the player who would guard him before the game to let them know madness was coming at them.
