Michael Jordan seemed invincible when he stepped out onto the court, but former NBA player Troy Bell claims he once got the better of him in a one-on-one matchup. In an interview, Bell recounted Jordan challenging him to a two-on-two contest for $10,000 back in 2005, which he declined in favor of them going one-on-one.
“Mike gave me the ball first,” Bell said. “I really just think Mike thought I was a bum. That’s what I think. He’s Mike, everyone’s a bum to Mike in his mind, that’s what I think… Everyone remembers that classic clip where [Allen] Iverson was crossing Jordan, and he really couldn’t do a whole lot about it, and this was back when Jordan was Jordan, and the crossover was one of my best moves.
“So in my mind I’ve seen you play a million times, but you’d probably never seen me play ever,” Bell stated. “And the first thing that go when you stop hooping is your defense. First thing to go, even though he was in a gym every day… I’m younger, so I can still play defense. So I wasn’t really worried about the defensive part, and the defensive part wasn’t even an issue in the game.
“So, game one, it didn’t matter what I did; it was working,” Bell continued. “… I just remember, it was like three moves I did. It was crossover hesitation shoot or drive, crossover left, hesitation shoot or drive. I’m watching his feet, so if his feet go up, I drive. If the feet are back, I shoot, and I made like every single shot. Might have missed one here and there.
“Game one, it happened so fast,” Bell added. “I just remember people’s faces… They couldn’t believe it. It always looks different, too, when a shorter, smaller guy is beating a bigger guy. So it was just dancing around. Mike was literally just dancing around, like shuffle shuffle hand, shuffle shuffle hand. It was bad. He couldn’t do nothing with it. It was real, real bad. Scraped Mike.”
Bell is said to have won the first game 11-4 or 11-5. He could have gotten bragging rights and $10,000 right there, but Jordan asked for a double-or-nothing rematch. Bell accepted, and it ended up being a mistake.
“I couldn’t even say no because that’s how easy it was,” Bell said. “I’m like there’s no way I’m not gonna win again… I’m up 10-4, we’re playing the exact same game. It’s 10-4, I’m about to win 20,000, barely broke a sweat… Every time he missed, he called a foul. Every single time. I don’t remember getting the ball back. I think I might have got the ball back one more time… I know for a fact, though, if he would have played like he played the first game, as far as like just playing normal one-on-one basketball, that I got $20,000.”
Now, this might be hard to believe for many. Sure, Jordan had retired for a third and final time in 2003, but Bell wasn’t exactly a superstar. The reason why the Chicago Bulls icon might not have thought too highly of him was that he barely even played in the NBA.
The Boston Celtics had selected Bell with the 16th pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, but then traded him on draft night to the Memphis Grizzlies. Bell played six games in his rookie season, and that was that. He never played in the league again.
For someone who averaged 1.8 points per game in their NBA career to easily beat Jordan seems impossible, but we’ll take Bell at his word. Perhaps Jordan can someday confirm the story.
