“Rachel Nichols, why don’t you speak?”: When Michael Jordan encouraged the budding NBA insider in her early days covering basketball

ESPN analyst Rachel Nichols recalls a time when Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan called out her skills as a journalist. 

As everyone in the NBA community knows by now, Michael Jordan is basketball royalty. He is arguably the greatest player of all time, with only the late great Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to compare to his greatness.

Due to what he has achieved, His Airness has always had an intimidating aura around him, spanning back to just before his first-ever championship. And, as Rachel Nichols recently revealed, she had to find this out the hard way very early into her career.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

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“What, you don’t speak?”: Rachel Nichols reveals what Michael Jordan said to her during an interview  

Rachel Nichols is well respected in the NBA community, and rightly so. The 47-year-old has a long tenure as sports journalist, and for the last few years, has been one of the biggest names under ESPN. But, as it is for everyone, she wasn’t always as amazing a reporter as she is today.

Recently, the analyst appeared on ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, alongside Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. Here, she talked about when she was green and early in her career, and Michael Jordan called her out on it. Take a look.

“I didn’t talk for like the first three or four practices that we covered… You’ve got this group of media around you with their little stuff. And I was just trying to not be noticed and learn and do.”

“And by like the fourth time he just looked at me in the middle of a press clump of people and was like, ‘What, you don’t speak? Do you not speak?’ I was like, ‘Oh OK,’ and then asked my probably ridiculous question at that point because I was so nervous.”

The price for a Michael Jordan jersey keeps climbing 💰 pic.twitter.com/leK4oeIvu0

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 8, 2021

To be fair to Nichols, if we had the opportunity, she did, we would freeze up too. But, it is also because of moments like this, that she was able to become as great as she is today.

Along with her own hard work, it seems she may have Michael Jordan to thank as well.

Also Read: Lakers legend Magic Johnson demands Wizards star be more respected amidst notching his 181st triple-double, equaling Oscar Robertson

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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