We don’t tell anyone, Michael Jordan had a very developed sense of trash-talking. It’s in his nature, it has never changed, and it will never change. Focus here on a murderous punchline towards … an own teammate.
2001. Michael Jordan is 38 years old and withdrew definitively from the courts 3 years earlier in an iconic shoot against Jazz to win his 6th and last title. And then finally, he decides to make a new comeback, this time to the Wizards. Jordan no longer has all his ardor but he has enough to stay above 20 points average for 2 years – a real feat at his age and in the league at the time.
Above all, his sense of competition and trash-talking has remained intact. Brendan Haywood, former pivot champion with Dallas in 2011, had the chance to start his career alongside His Airness. He recounts how Jordan, despite his advanced age for a player, continued to abuse his teammates in training, especially Bryon Russell.
Mike wanted to rip your heart out. He wanted you to fear him. Mike wanted to dominate you defensively and offensively. This is where they are different [Jordan et LeBron James, car Haywood a également joué avec le King à Cleveland en 2014-15, ndlr]. He wanted to tell you tough stuff. He wanted to let you know that you couldn’t defend him.
Some days in training, what MJ said to Byron Russell was downright embarrassing. He was taking this guy apart! It wasn’t like he didn’t love her. That’s just the way he was. They faced each other in practice, but Russell was just like a leech. He was telling MJ bullshit every day.
But you cannot win this battle. One day, MJ was eating it his way and he stopped and crashed a game-winner. He said: “That’s why we call you the king of highlights. Not because you have your own highlights, but because you are in all of mine ”. This is GOAT trash talk. It silenced him forever.
20, 30 or 40: No matter his age, Michael Jordan would stop at nothing or anyone to face and humiliate anyone. Poor Bryon Russell took it for his rank. To top it off, he had spent his entire career in Utah from 1993 before landing in Washington in 2002. He therefore experienced the two Finals of the franchise, lost to the same Jordan and his Bulls.
Bryon Russell has long faced Michael Jordan, and it never ended well. Once he found himself with him, it ended even less well… The last straw.
