“I Had a Problem With How he Tried to Motivate Me”: Horace Grant Speaks Out Against Michael Jordan

Former Chicago Bulls player Horace Grant talked about how it was like to play with Michael Jordan. Talking at the Undefeated, Shannon Sharpe revealed what Grant told him about Jordan.

Grant played alongside Jordan for the Bulls for seven years between 1987 and 1994. Yet, the two never seemed to share a good relationship. Grant talked about it in a recent appearance on ‘Pardon My Take’.

He said that although the two respected each other as players, the relationship remained professional. They never hung out together off the court.

An interesting incident surrounding Jordan and Grant that came out recently showed the controversial part of Jordan’s leadership. The author of the book “Jordan Rules,” Sam Smith, who used to cover the Bulls as a reporter, appeared on the KNBR’s Tolbert, Krueger, and Brooks Podcast to reveal the incident.

He said that Jordan once asked the staff not to feed Horace if he did not play well.

“Players would come to me over the years and say, ‘You know what he did? He took Horace [Grant’s] food away on the plane because Horace had a bad game,’” Smith said. “[Michael] told the stewardesses ‘Don’t feed him, he doesn’t deserve to eat.’”

Horace Grant did not like how Michael Jordan tried to motivate him

While Jordan’s intentions in not to feed Horace might be to motivate him to do better, it does seem harsh on a professional player. Talking on the Undefeated, Shannon Sharpe said how Grant did not like this approach from Michael Jordan.

“Horace told me: ‘If you didn’t confront Mike, he would ride you every day, all day, all the time. You had to stand up for yourself. I didn’t have a problem with Mike the player, I had a problem with how he tried to motivate me,'” Sharpe said.

Grant was a first-round pick for the Bulls in 1987. He played through the team’s first three-peat in the early 1990s. In 1994, after being a part of three title-winning Bulls teams, he moved to Orlando Magic.

Over the course of his 16-year career, he would go on to win another title with Los Angeles Lakers in 2000/01. The 2003/04 season was the final season of his NBA career.