If there was something that we learned about Michael Jordan in ‘The Last Dance’ is that His Airness takes almost everything personal and he’ll make you pay if he feels you disrespect him someway. That is the story of what he did with the Chicago Bulls, but besides that, Jordan starred in other controversies during his days with the Washington Wizards.
Richard Hamilton, MJ’s former teammate in D.C., told the story of how Jordan traded one player after getting trash-talked during practice. He joined Showtime’s All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, where he told the story of MJ and the time he shipped Laron Profit to the Orlando Magic after he trash-talked the 6x NBA champion.
Prior to his return to action, in 2001, MJ used to practice with some Wizards players. Hamilton revealed he and Profit trash-talked MJ, but there was one time when his teammate took things too far.
At some point, he got past and MJ and told him, “You can’t guard me with them old-ass knees.” Rip admitted he knew that was too much for Jordan and he immediately knew he was ‘heated’.
“He was heated to the point that when I went to my exit meeting—because he was the president at the time—I went into my exit meeting and he was like, ‘OK, Rip, you know, your man, your buddy … he’s outta here,'” the three-time All-Star said. “He said, ‘But you’re gonna be there by yourself, and you ain’t gonna have your buddy to co-sign. You’re gonna be on an island by yourself.'”
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In the end, the Wizards sent Profit to the Orlando Magic with a first-rounder in exchange for center Brendan Haywood. We’re not sure if Profit’s comments had something to do with his trade, but this is MJ we’re talking about. That man is known for holding grudges, so who knows.
Jordan played from 2001 through 2003 and although Hamilton spent one season with him in D.C., he witnessed Jordan’s greatness and that attitude that made him the greatest player of all time.
