Michael Jordan’s Knee Leaked “Black Goo Tar Stuff” as He Played Through Deathly Pain at Age 38

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest of all time. MJ?s name in the GOAT conversation will always make the loudest noise. There is no denying that Michael Jordan changed the face of the NBA. He well and truly brought the game of basketball onto the global stage. He revolutionized the sport as well as showed the mantle of his mentality.

Whenever we hear the name Michael Jordan, ?Chicago Bulls 23? comes to mind. It is enriched in memory for the legacy he created in the franchise. He won the three-peat twice with the Bulls. Nobody has achieved this feat ever in basketball. But there is one part of MJ?s career that often goes unnoticed at times. His time at Washington Wizards.

Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the last time in 2001 at the age of 38. He stayed in retirement for three seasons. He then in the early 2000s bought some shares in the franchise. MJ decided to play 2 more seasons before hanging up his boots for good.

WATCH THIS STORY: Michael Jordan?s 3 mistakes during his time with the Wizards.

But ‘His Airness’ was already past his prime and at 38 with 3 years of no professional basketball, the time was bound to have some hurdles for MJ.

The old Michael Jordan and the ?old? Michael Jordan

When 38-year-old Jordan came out of a 3-year retirement, the league was stunned because he did not have ?that? athleticism. But it was MJ we were talking about, so there were obviously many glimpses of the ?old? Michael Jordan. His actual ?Last Dance? came with the Wizards and with some difficulties physically.

Jordan had just returned from a chronic knee injury that had reportedly been bothering him throughout the season. Etan Thomas, then a rookie teammate of MJ’s on the Wizards, specifically recalled.

?This is the part that people don?t understand: how injured he was. I saw it firsthand,? Thomas said.

READ MORE: MJ’s underrated time in Washington.

“Somehow it leaked that he was getting his knee drained, and I was sitting there like, ‘I see him do that every other day!’ Literally, his knee would swell up like the Elephant Man! I was sitting in the training room getting some treatment or whatever, and he was on the table next to me. I saw it! They came in, and they pulled out this needle and drained his knee.”

“They drained it and this black-tar goo stuff came out and he was in excruciating pain and it looked terrible!”

But what would shock most people is that even then MJ was an MVP contender. His 51 and 45-point performances and then back-to-back 40+ masterclass showed the world another example of his elite mentality of being the best. Even when he was nearing 40, he showed glimpses of MJ being MJ.

He finished the two seasons with the Wizards with an average of 21.2 points. If anything, him going strong at that age only added to his legacy.