James Worthy recently reflected on his time at the University of North Carolina with Michael Jordan during an appearance on the Byron Scott podcast. Worthy, a senior and one of college basketball’s biggest stars at the time, shared a humorous anecdote about briefly being better than Jordan when the young freshman arrived at UNC.
“I was better than him for about three weeks, and I enjoyed those three weeks because I saw something in that boy. He didn’t have it quite yet, but he was learning. I don’t know much about his high school coach, but Michael Jordan was actually a better baseball player back then.”
“He would seek out the best in everything—chess, backgammon, you name it. If he lost, he’d get so mad, like he’d just lost a Game 7. We’d practice for two and a half hours, running sprints until we were exhausted.”
“Afterward, you just wanted to leave, but here comes Michael, pushing me and saying, ‘Where you going, young fella? You scared?’ He always wanted to play a little one-on-one. So we’d play, and he was just a bad boy.”
After their time together at UNC, where they won the 1982 NCAA Championship, Worthy and Jordan faced off in the NBA. Over 19 total games, including 15 regular-season meetings and four playoff contests, the two Tar Heel legends had memorable battles. Worthy led their regular-season matchups with a 9-6 record, but Jordan decisively claimed superiority in the playoffs, with a 3-1 record during the 1991 NBA Finals.
Statistically, Jordan dominated their head-to-head encounters. Against Worthy, Jordan averaged an astounding 32.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. Worthy, on the other hand, posted solid numbers of 20.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game, but he was clearly outshone by the man who would go on to become one of the greatest players in NBA history.
The 1991 NBA Finals marked a defining moment in their professional rivalry. Jordan’s Chicago Bulls defeated Worthy’s Los Angeles Lakers in five games to secure the first of Jordan’s six championships. Worthy, battling through an ankle injury, was limited in his effectiveness and missed the decisive Game 5. It was a bittersweet ending for Worthy, as Jordan fully cemented his dominance on the sport’s biggest stage.
While Worthy humorously acknowledges being better than Jordan for a fleeting three weeks at UNC, their trajectories in the NBA told a different story. Worthy became a Hall of Famer, winning three championships with the Lakers and earning a Finals MVP in 1988. Jordan, however, ascended to unprecedented heights, redefining greatness in basketball with six championships, five MVPs, and countless iconic moments.
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