- Dominique Wilkins infamously left Rashan Michel with a black eye in 2011
- Wilkins said that Michel made threatening advances toward him after a game between the Hawks and the Magic
- Michel had claimed that Wilkins hadn’t paid for suits that were provided to him
You wouldn’t think of Dominique Wilkins as someone who loses his cool, but he once infamously left Rashan Michel with a black eye after a confrontation in 2011. Wilkins recently sat down for an interview with DJ Vlad, where he was asked about the incident.
“I think he had too much to drink or whatever, I don’t know what was going on with him,” Wilkins said. “He made threatening advances to me while I was on the floor. I didn’t even see him, security saw him, and he was just yelling and screaming. And he made threatening advances toward me, it wasn’t the right thing to do on his part. That didn’t end up well.”
When Wilkins was asked if it was over not paying for some suits, the 63-year-old explained what Michel’s modus operandi was.
“His M.O. is like he’ll make you a suit and send it to you right, for free to get your business,” Wilkins stated. “And then he sends you six more (and) then he charges you for it. I’m like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I didn’t order these.’ And of course, he took them back and he said, ‘No problem, would love to get your business.'”
The nine-time All-Star states the whole encounter in 2011 then just came out of the blue years after this interaction.
“And this (is) like 4-5 years later because I didn’t talk to this guy,” Wilkins continued. “4-5 years later he just comes to a game and I guess he had a little too much to drink, and he got brave and started saying crazy stuff.”
Vlad then brought up the viral picture of Michel’s black eye after the incident to which Wilkins said, “That’s something that could have been avoided but you got to protect yourself over people who act crazy.”
This was just a wild incident all around. Wilkins was wrapping up his broadcasting duties for a game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic on 30th March 2011 when this went down.
The police at the time stated that Michel was yelling at Wilkins, which led to the latter stepping away to de-escalate the situation. Rashan then pursued Wilkins, which is when he got the black eye. Michel was charged with misdemeanor assault for attacking Wilkins, while the former Hawks star did not face criminal charges.
The Rashan Michel Scandal
Michel was actually an NBA referee from 1997 to 2001, after which he started a business making suits for professional athletes. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, except for his M.O. that Wilkins mentioned, he was involved in some shady dealings behind the scenes.
Michel was part of a bribery scheme where college coaches were paid to steer athletes to certain financial advisors. He pled guilty in 2019 and avoided jail time, as it was deemed to be excessive punishment, but was ordered to forfeit $24,000, the amount he had been paid as part of the scheme.
Dominique Wilkins Thinks Kobe Bryant Was The Closest Thing To Michael Jordan
During this interview, Wilkins also spoke about Kobe Bryant, who, unlike Michel, was a good friend of his. Bryant is considered by many to be the closest thing to Michael Jordan, and that is a notion that Wilkins agrees with as well.
“Yes sir,” Wilkins said. “That killer instinct, the style. His ability to push everybody around him to that next level. For sure.”
(starts at 2:09 mark):
Wilkins had also said that Bryant is the only player close to Jordan in the GOAT debate. He said that those who played against Bryant would know that. It is pretty clear that he holds Kobe in very high regard, just like most former NBA players do.
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