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Topics: NBA, Basketball, Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, LA Lakers
Ryan Baldi
Topics: NBA, Basketball, Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, LA Lakers
Michael Jordan is renowned for his competitiveness.
The NBA megastar tapped into a singular drive and determination to win six championships and five Most Valuable Player awards throughout an illustrious basketball career that would see him go down as the greatest of all time in his sport.
He also demanded the highest possible standards of his teammates and stories about from Jordan's mid-90s peak of the basketball legend getting into heated confrontations with colleagues who were either unable to reach those standards or felt the Chicago Bulls No.23 was out of line with how he enforced them.
Jordan's competitive spirit could also spill over into pettiness if he didn't win or get his way. And, according to one former NBA player, that did not stop once he retired from the game for a third and final time in 2003.
ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins caused a minor stir early in his broadcast career by saying that LeBron James – whom he briefly played alongside with the Cleveland Cavaliers – is the greatest NBA player of all time, and not Jordan.
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Speaking during a recent appearance on ESPN show First Take, Perkins revealed the petty way in which Jordan punished the retired big man for his remark.
"MJ is petty as hell, too,' the former Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics centre said.
"If you go in my closet, it's nothing but Js [Nike Air Jordan sneakers]. I keep nothing but Js on my feet. I was signed to Jordan [brand] for about two years when I was playing. I wore Js throughout the course of a few years of my time in Oklahoma City.
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"After that, I used to get boxes in the mail at the time of Js before they even hit the stores.
"I started my media career [and] as soon as I said LeBron James was the GOAT, those boxes stopped coming."
Stephen A Smith – the outspoken ESPN personality who has had a public spat with James recently – was seen laughing at Perkins' anecdote before the host cut to a commercial break.