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via Getty

via Getty

Sports has a unique ability to unite people as well as divide. One comment against your favorite and you have fans running riot against you.  Some people tend to find more haters than others and with the recent chapter with Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, sure has found himself on the wrong side of things of late.

However, Bubba Wallace shares a very good relationship with Michael Jordan. The relationship officially began when Jordan bought his way into NASCAR, co-owning a team with legend Denny Hamlin. The team, 23XI Racing, began racing in 2020 and had to compete with big, established powers of NASCAR like Hendricks Motorsports and Richard Petty Motorsports.

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But the team has been managing well, having a few victories in its bag within its 2 years of competing. In a light and fun interview with Showtime, Bubba was asked “One night in Vegas, on the money line card means everything’s on the house, they got a lotta money over there. 3 people you would bring with you, past or present. But not in Vegas.”

Bubba said, “Let’s see… That’s tough. I’m gonna have to go with Tucker. Yeah, Smokey. And then… Who’s another solid? I’m gonna have to probably invite Wayne out, Weezy, and then the third… I’d party with MJ, I’d buy MJ out. [You guys already got some good tequila] yeah, it ain’t bad if you like that, I don’t like that (laughs).”

Read More: Michael Jordan, Who Punished Bubba Wallace for Kyle Larson Blowup, Was Himself Suspended for Punching an NBA Legend in 1993

MJ and Bubba are really good friends, and banter like this between them continues to go on. Wallace gets jeered a lot from a section of fans, but isn’t the MJ stamp of approval enough? 

Michael Jordan has taken a hard stand against Bubba Wallace

The Las Vegas incident between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson has been the most discussed topic of late. A disappointing day for the 23XI Racing driver, that ended in a lot of hatred and anger towards him from all corners.

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Wallace was suspended for one race as a result of the fight that he was found to have initiated. It led to him missing out at Homestead-Miami and Larson ended that race with the #1 prize in his hands. So a double whammy for Bubba in a way. Regardless of that, Bubba came out and agreed that he was wrong, and apologized.

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But it seems the 23XI Racing team felt that a hard line step was required to be taken in order to prevent any future repetition of such incidents. Denny Hamlin said that the actions taken by the management were “above and beyond” what NASCAR had inflicted.

Hamlin also said, “He understands where I stand, where the team stands, the values that we want to present on the racetrack, and he just didn’t represent it that well last week,” Hamlin said. “But you know, in the grand scheme of things, we’re very happy with his progress. And he knows he’s still got some stuff to work on when he gets out of the race car.”

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Watch This Story: Bubba Wallace Loses $1 Million For Assaulting Kyle Larson as Michael Jordan’s Partner Condemns His “Values”

The incident was unfortunate and unacceptable. Hopefully, it’s all in the past and both sides will come back stronger next season.