A former NBA claims he beat Michael Jordan in a 1v1 game but there is an alternative version of how things went down.
Jordan infamously said that the late Kobe Bryant was the only person capable of beating him in a battle, though he did previously admit that his older brother Larry used to "beat him up" and helped shape him into the bulletproof player he became.
The six-time NBA champion is widely deemed to be the greatest basketball player in history and his ruthless mentality is what separated him from the rest of the pack.
He was instrumental in two different three-peats for Chicago Bulls and ended up finishing his career with the Washington Wizards, after coming out of retirement for a second time.
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It was there he met Kwame Brown, a 6ft 11 centre who proceeded to play for the LA Lakers, Jordan's Charlotte Bobcats, Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers.
They were teammates for two seasons and Brown, a first round draft pick in 2001, claims that he got the better of Jordan in a one-on-one scenario which he demanded right from the off.
"It was fun. I beat him in 1-on-1, too. The first thing I wanted to do was play him 1-on-1... The first thing I said was, 'I heard a lot about you, but I think I’m better than you.' So we ended up playing basketball 1-on-1," Brown said in an interview with B High TV, via Basketball Network.
"It was a fun game, good game. I jumped out on him quick and then he started doing the MJ thing, fading away everywhere. He wouldn’t let you back him down."
Jordan 'humiliated' Brown
However, it has been claimed that Brown was not quite telling the truth regarding his showdown with Jordan. According to an excerpt from Michael Leahy’s book, 'When Nothing Else Matters', Jordan brutally destroyed and mocked a teenage Brown while the team watched.
It was even alleged that Jordan demanded he call him "daddy".
"He proceeded to humiliate Brown, mocking him while scoring at will, declining to help him up when the teenager fell hard to the floor, winning lopsidedly and at the end, yelling at Brown to acknowledge his superiority in front of the team," the book claimed.
It has been reported that Jordan was hard on Brown because he saw something in him and wanted to show him the right way to do things but he ended up having a fairly underwhelming NBA career.
Topics: NBA, Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
Josh Lawless