Michael Jordan’s Pitch to David Stern Failed to Save NBA Champ From Shocking All-Star Snub: “I Was Hurt”

Stephen Jackson’s 2010 NBA All-Star snub still hurts. The NBA veteran recently talked about being taken out of the conversation despite having the accolades to make All-Star. Jackson also unveiled that despite the efforts made by Michael Jordan to ensure him a spot, he was not included.

All-Star selections are based on several factors which include performances and statistics, fan voting, player voting, etc. As per Jackson, he had a strong enough case to make it that year.

The 2003 NBA champion said, “My situation was with Gerald Wallace, made it in Charlotte and everybody knew I should have made it. Everybody thought I was gonna make it before him.” There were a lot of factors in play on why Jackson couldn’t make the cut and even though it’s now been well over a decade, he still feels a certain way about it. The NBA veteran had 20.6 PPG, 5 RPG, and 3.6 APG that season. Jackson also unveiled how the Charlotte Bobcats (now Charlotte Hornets) owner Michael Jordan made a call to David Stern for him. He said, “It was so upsetting by everybody that MJ had to make a call to David Stern about it, but I was hurt, man.”

Jackson said that it was one of the lowest points in his career which is why it still hurt. The NBA veteran came very close to getting a spot on the All-Star team and that was as close as he ever got to one. Jackson retired without making a single All-Star appearance in his career.

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Michael Jordan trash-talked his own athletes

MJ’s trash talk tales are well known, but his talking smack to his own players on the Bobcats roster is a relatively lesser-known story. This incident took place around the same time when Jackson’s All-Star snub was the talk of the town. The team on the other hand was getting beaten down by every other opponent in the league. Since their owner was arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, he had to take matters into his own hands.

MJ showed up to one of the practice sessions only to show the team their place. In typical Jordan fashion, almost at 50 years of age, he picked a bench of fringe role-players and ended up thrashing the “A-Team” of the Bobcats. Before Jordan left the facility, he made sure he gave Jackson a piece of his mind. In response to Jackson’s demand for a foul call, MJ said, “The MFer ain’t never been an All-Star but wants all the All-Star calls.”

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