“Jeff Van Gundy calling me a con-man rubbed me the wrong way”: Michael Jordan admits to not agreeing with the Knicks head coach on him faking friendships across the league

Michael Jordan, through Ahmad Rashad, claims that he took it personally when Jeff Van Gundy called him a ‘con-man’ in the NBA. 

Michael Jordan was always someone who was looking for that extra motivation in times when the game just felt a bit lackadaisical to him. After all, being the greatest of all time would result in the game of basketball becoming a bit stale from time to time. He would actually time off from being a Chicago Bull in 1993 to pursue a career in baseball, with one reason being because he was bored of being in the NBA. 

The New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls had quite an intense Eastern Conference rivalry with one another long before Jeff Van Gundy took the job to be the former’s head coach. He showed up in the 1996-97 season but the two squads had already duked it out five times in the Playoffs, with the Knicks winning only one of those series.

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Even in Jordan’s last few years as a Bull, the rivalry with Ewing’s Knicks was ongoing. To add more fuel to the fire, JVG said this: [Jeff Van Gundy calls Michael Jordan a con-man for faking friendships across the league] 

Michael Jordan opens up about JVG’s harsh words towards him. 

Ahmad Rashad was at times, the only member of the media Michael Jordan would talk to, depending on the situation. So, it’s no surprise that he spilled the beans on the ‘con-man’ saga to him in a ‘tell-all’ interview. Here, he would open up about Van Gundy ridiculing the league for continuing to be friends with him after he fakes his friendship with them.

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“Yes, I took it personally. It rubbed me the wrong way then and if I hear it now, it would still rub me the wrong way because that was never my intent. I was good friends with Oakley, I was good friends with Patrick.”  

“But, I’m trying to con them into playing a different style against me- that to me is attacking my basketball skills as a sense of saying, ‘Only you win is if you make these guys think that you like them.’ No, I actually do like them.”