“I always hear cool things from his teammates, that you know how he took care of them and made sure they was right…He’s an A1 guy to me.” That’s how Tim Hardaway views Michael Jordan. Hardaway was a Chicago native and got his chance thanks to the strong hooping culture of the city. And that might have also just played a role in bringing the Miami Heat star one of his best moments with MJ.

“Mike said after the game he said,’ good game’. He looked me in my eye he said, ‘you got a chance, you got a chance.‘”As per Hardaway, Michael Jordan was already an NBA superstar, so those words for any young hooper would mean the world. For Hardway, it took his confidence to another level. It opened a door an inch and he kicked it down whole, in Hardaway’s words.

But why did MJ complement the 5x All-Star? It’s a story from when the 58-year-old was in his junior year and faced a couple of pros alongside His Airness.

Craig Hodges, one of Jordan’s former teammates, had a bet against Hardaway. “I got a bet that you going to score four or six points within Michael Jordan.” The bet was worth $80,000, but Hardaway wanted something else rather than straight up cash. “It was an original Louis Vuitton jacket that he got made and I wanted that jacket.” Ultimately, the bet was settled for that jacket and $10,000, which he revealed on All the Smoke podcast.

Though it is not known who won the bet, it was sure a win for young Hardaway yet in college. He would go on to win the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award the next year, make the NBA as a 14th overall pick, adorn the All-Star title five times, and come up against MJ a whole lot more.

It would become a novelty eventually. “So, nothing amazes me about Michael because I played against him so many times during the course of my career,” he said in another one of the interviews. But it was a positive take, because he had seen Michael Jordan practice with the same intensity over the years. Even in any practice games, that’s why the ethics and culture of MJ weren’t unique. But there was an instant once when he was happily surprised by how the 6x NBA Champion was operating behind closed doors.

Michael Jordan and the story of almost being a Warrior

When MJ wanted back to come to the league after retirement, not many people knew. In order to test himself then, Michael Jordan was practicing with the Golden State Warriors team behind closed doors. As per Hardaway, who was playing for the franchise, “His basketball IQ was still there,” but MJ was practicing to see if he still had the quickness, awareness, ability to stand in front of people, and ultimately the drive.

He would learn in the next few hours that all these boxes could be ticked. MJ picked his team, but Hardaway would be on the opposite side alongside Latrell Sprewell, both of them, the 5x champion’s major threat. But he would have no problem shutting them down.  “When he came in, he played for about an hour and a half and said he could play all day. But he literally kicked our butts and took it to us and showed us he was still a guy that can play on a high level, that he is still Michael Jordan,” Tim Hardaway narrated on Basketball Time Machine.

Those behind closed-door games not only gave MJ the confidence but also he knew he still had the drive to compete at the highest level. Plus the domination against Tim Hardaway and Latrell Sprewell turned out to be a good ego boost.