Four decades have passed since the infamous 1985 All-Star game, where Michael Jordan felt he was frozen out of the game by veterans like Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, and George Gervin. According to reports, the veterans had a Michael Jordan-sized chip on their shoulder from the time leading up to the 1984 Summer Olympics, when Jordan apparently beat them single-handedly in the Team USA vs. NBA All-Stars matchup.
Subsequently, as a part of the alleged controversy, the veterans decided to make sure that Jordan had a bad game in his first NBA All-Star appearance in 1985. Gervin and Johnson were apparently supposed to double-team Jordan on defense, and Thomas had to ensure that Jordan never got the ball. Something that they have categorically denied on multiple occasions.
Following this, Jordan had the least memorable All-Star game of his entire career, and that too in his debut, which is supposed to be one of the most memorable games of an NBA player’s All-Star journey. He finished the game with seven points, six rebounds, and two assists, going 2-for-9 from the field (22.22%) in 22 minutes played.
George Gervin, the San Antonio Spurs legend, recently appeared on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast with Matt Barnes, where he spoke about several things in his NBA career. Among them, he chose to clear the air on what happened with Michael Jordan at the All-Star game in 1985. As expected, he totally denied it, but he additionally chose to subtly turn the tables on Jordan.
“Oh, that’s a joke, man. How am I going to freeze you out when I’m playing against you? I’m on the other team. You know what I mean? So, you know, that’s again what tells you about media.”
“I’m grown, y’all, I mean, that’s my last All-Star game. I wanted to bust him up cause he was a rookie.”
“Mike knows I wanted to bust him up. Before I get out of here, man, I want you to have a touch of ice. And you know, they went with all that rap, man.”
“I was disappointed, man, cuz you know, I told Mike, I said, ‘Man, you didn’t believe that stuff, did you, man? Come on, man. I’m a grown man. What I’mma freeze a kid out?” He was a kid then, man.”
“And you know, he got a lot of attention because, you know, I was getting dressed and stuff. They came in and asked me how I feel playing against Mike. I said, “Man, you’re gonna ask Mike how it feels playing against Ice? He ain’t shot a jumper yet, man. Come on, man,” Gervin pointed out while implying that Jordan got increased media attention due to the allegations.
“But that was media, right?… Blown out of proportion, man. Come on, man. I had my turn, man. And then he proved to me when I played with him that I had my turn, you know.”
Jordan was initially confused about what was happening. But he knew he wasn’t there intending to make a big name for himself.
“I was very quiet when I went there,” Jordan said about his first All-Star Game experience. “I didn’t want to go there like I was a big-shot rookie, and you must respect me.”
“I was very confused,” Jordan said later in 1988. “I didn’t understand what exactly was going on. I didn’t understand the reasoning.”
Several sources offered alternative explanations to the allegations. Some said it was impossible since the veterans were on opposing teams, while some said that they were intentionally trying to capitalize on Larry Bird’s stardom at the time by feeding him the ball more than Jordan.
Many people believe that it wasn’t until the 1986 Playoff series against the Celtics that Jordan announced his stardom to the NBA world. It was when he famously dropped 63 points on Larry Bird’s Celtics in the series. But not many people know that Gervin was Jordan’s teammate that season with the Bulls, which ended up being his final season in the NBA.
George Gervin On His Relationship With Michael Jordan And His Time On The Bulls
Gervin spoke about eventually joining Jordan after this alleged controversy. And while he only played sporadically for the Bulls, he felt that every now and then, his old self came back, and he eventually developed a good relationship with Jordan.
“You know, for me, man, I knew I had my turn, you know, and my turn was over, man. I was with a franchise for 12 years, and I was the man, you know, and stuff. So, I’m coming to another franchise that he’s the man, you know, I mean, I got common sense,” said Gervin.
“So, what happened is he got hurt. So, that brother got hurt. So, I kind of took that road for a minute. This is how I see it, you know, I was old… Come on, man. I was old, though, man. I always say I was old, but the ice man of old kind of showed up now and again, then you know.”
“I know one game I was in Dallas and stuff, man. You know, like what 33 at the half or something, man. You know, 35 at half and I end up with like 40 something. And that brother said, ‘Hey, what happened?’ I said, ‘Man, I was just kind of showing you how it used to be.'”
“Now, I had a good relationship with him, and it proved that when he was in my documentary. And I didn’t know some of the things that he felt about me, uh, that he told me in my documentary. And I tell him I’m forever thankful,” said Gervin about his relationship with Jordan.
“Man, you know you’ve got to go to the source when you’ve got a problem, you know, and a lot of us don’t, right? You know, a lot of people go with that hearsay stuff, man, and it ends up killing you, man, I mean, if you’re a man, man up, go face another man, say, ‘Man, you got a problem with me? Let’s work it out,” added Gervin while pondering how Jordan should have dealt with the problem.
Barnes went on to ask Gervin if he ever faced Jordan one-on-one in his career.
“No, I ain’t want none of him. So, I’m being honest. I mean, I, you know, I had my turn, man. Now, he probably wouldn’t have wanted none of the old Iceman, you know, but I ain’t want no Mike, man,” said Gervin, a bit reluctantly.
“I mean, now I could shoot with you. I think at that time I still could have had a better jumper. Well, I was pretty effective, you know, and stuff. So, Mike had to learn how to shoot.”
“Y’all know early on in his career, he was a scorer. Then he became a scorer and a shooter. Mhm. You know, and stuff. So, but I ain’t saying I could beat you, Mike. Don’t know, but I didn’t mind trying.”’
Clearly, Gervin saw Jordan as a young rookie during the time that he played with him. But he acknowledged that very early on in his career, it was clear to Jordan that the Bulls franchise was his team and no one else’s.
