“I took offense to me being compared to Clyde Drexler”: When Michael Jordan couldn’t stand the comparisons between himself and the Blazers guard

Michael Jordan was not a fan of the constant comparisons between himself and Clyde Drexler as he claims to have taken offense to them. 

Michael Jordan had to go through quite the gauntlet to finally establish himself as the man to beat in the NBA. The 1986 and ‘87 Playoffs saw the Larry Bird led Boston Celtics best his Chicago Bulls with ease and the next three postseasons had the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons beat up on them, handing them three straight Playoff losses. 

Everything changed in the 1991 NBA Playoffs as the Chicago Bulls swept their adversaries in the Eastern Conference Finals to eventually beat Magic Johnson and his Los Angeles Lakers. From that point on, Michael Jordan would lose merely one Playoff series between 1991 and 1998 (Orlando Magic in ‘95 ECSF after return from baseball).

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Along the way, Jordan would find players being compared to him, both by fans and by the media to push a narrative of someone being Michael’s equal. It was understood that the eventual 6x champ was superior to his every one of peers and yet, ‘rivals’ were sent his way to get turned away in the Playoffs. 

Michael Jordan did not like comparisons between him and Clyde Drexler. 

The Portland Trailblazers had a chance to have both Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler on their team. Unfortunately for them, they drafted Sam Bowie with the 2nd overall pick in 1984 as they believed they had already filled the 2 guard spot.

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The Blazers actually had more Finals experience than the Chicago Bulls as they had played the Detroit Pistons in the 1990 NBA Finals, losing in 5 games. History would repeat itself as they would lose to the Bulls in the Finals two years later in 6 games. 

Throughout those Finals, comparisons between Clyde the Glide and Air Jordan were being made and according to the latter on his Last Dance docuseries, he took offense to them.

https://youtu.be/Ovo6VIJ31IY

Michael Jordan would do everything from scoring 39+ points in 3 of those 6 games to knocking down 6 threes in Game 1 after being told that he couldn’t shoot 3s. Safe to say that the comparisons died down pretty quickly following Jordan’s second ring.