‘Wanted to Cut Your Heart Out’: Former Teammate Describes the Extent of Michael Jordan’s Competitive Nature

Legends don’t play to make friendships; they play to win. And that’s what Michael Jordan was all about. He was known for his ruthless and unique ways of motivating his teammates to do better. If they weren’t performing up to his standards, the trash-talking would come in. However, his methods obviously produced results as he is the holder of six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.

All his fans and teammates knew of Jordan’s ways. Some appreciated it because of how positive the impact was, but there were some who didn’t like it at all. But Jordan never changed and continued to focus on what mattered the most to him – winning.

In a recent interview with HoopsHype, four players that have been teammates to both LeBron James and Michael Jordan talked about their experience with them. Jordan’s teammate in the Washington Wizards, Brendan Haywood, revealed, “Mike wanted to cut your heart out. He wanted you to fear him. Mike wanted, defensively and offensively, to dominate you. That’s where they are different. He wanted to talk trash to you. He wanted to let you know that you couldn’t guard him.”

Michael Jordan and his infamous trash-talking

Not all players could match Jordan’s competitive and intense nature. Brendan Haywood narrated one such nasty story of Jordan demoralizing Byron Russell. He said:

“Some of the days in practice, what MJ was saying to Byron Russell were just flat-out embarrassing. He would just go after this guy! It wasn’t like he didn’t like him. It’s just how he was. They used to compete in practice, but Russell was just a gluten for punishment. He would talk trash to MJ every day. But you can’t win that battle. One day, MJ was cooking him and he pulled up and hit a game-winner. He said: ‘That’s why they call you the human highlight reel. Not because you have any highlights of your own, but because you are in all of mine.’ That’s GOAT trash talk. That shut it down.”

Surprisingly enough, Jordan and Russell were great friends. That is what made Jordan who he was. He would be the perfect friend and gentleman off-court, but his relationships meant nothing in front of the game. Without this quality, could Jordan have won as many titles as he did?