Michael Jordan is the greatest competitor in the history of the NBA. The six-time NBA champ took down the toughest of opponents during his 20-year-long career against all odds. His fierceness and determination are still impossible to match even after over a decade since his retirement. MJ’s will made him strive for wins as nobody did. Despite his retirement from the NBA, the Chicago Bulls legend did not lose his competitiveness even when he played with his kids Marcus and Jeffrey Jordan.
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Jordan and his eldest son, Jeffrey appeared in a joint interview with NBA Today in 2007 . The same year Jeffrey Jordan joined the University of Illinois and started playing for the college basketball team. Jeffrey earned a spot on the Division one team as a walk-on player. During the interview, the host asked questions regarding MJ’s expectations from his kids and if they had Jordan’s basketball genes.
The Chicago Bulls legend reckoned that he never pushed his kids to play basketball. Michael Jordan feared that the pressure of his legacy would be unhealthy for his kids. However, both Marcus and Jeffrey decided to follow in their father’s footsteps despite the unbelievable burden of expectations on them.
Michael Jordan and his sons share the will to compete
Jordan stated that his sons had the same competitive genes as him. He shared that their competitiveness often led to trash-talking whenever the trio played together. Jordan also revealed that Jeffrey relied on versatility while he liked to limit his motion on a smaller court. It led to a point where Jeffrey and Marcus started to talk trash to lure their father into making a mistake, but Jordan’s game started to elevate. Moreover, Jeffrey revealed that MJ began to give back the trash talk as well. Michael Jordan added, “I do, it never ends I end. It ends when I finish.”
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The host suggested that Jordan could not help but be competitive even with his own kids. MJ responded that he could by choosing not to play at all. Even as a father, the five-time MVP could not let his sons win, even at trash talking. So, to avoid being competitive he often decided not to play altogether. Hence, Jeffrey managed to beat his dad just once because he rarely played with them.
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Eventually, Michael Jordan’s sons created a path for themselves away from the NBA. However, it is quite thrilling to know that Jordan couldn’t resist his yearning to be competitive even against his own kids.