Michael Jordan had a reputation for being tough on his teammates in his pursuit of basketball’s top honours.
And that apparently extended to ‘humiliating’ one of them in a 1 on 1 game and insisting he called him ‘Daddy’ in response.
MJ’s competitive fire helped him to win six NBA titles and six NBA Finals MVP awards during his time with the Chicago Bulls.
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He retired in 1999 but then made a second comeback with the Washington Wizards in 2001.
By then Jordan was approaching 40 and he suffered an injury-hit campaign in 2001-02.
But according to Michael Leahy, that didn’t stop him ‘humiliating’ Kwame Brown in a 1 on 1 game, who the Wizards had drafted with the first overall pick.
In his book, When Nothing Else Matters, Leahy wrote: "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.”
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Leahy added that Jordan told Brown to call him 'Daddy' to acknowledge the scale of the victory.
However, Brown himself tells a very different version of events.
Drafted straight out of high school, then then 19-year-old Brown claims he told MJ he could beat him in a matchup – and then proceeded to do so.
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"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 told B High TV.
"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 reportedly took the young Kwame under his wing to help him adjust to life under the NBA spotlight.
However, Brown struggled to live up to his top billing, was traded to the LA Lakers in 2005 and he has since been labelled one of the draft’s biggest ever busts.
Topics: NBA, Michael Jordan
Alex Chivers