Michael Jordan had his fair share of controversies throughout his 15-year NBA career. The biggest of the lot was surrounding his gambling addiction. It became such big a talking point, that people believe it had some involvement in the “decision” of his first retirement from the sport in 1993. There were rumors that it was actually a secret ban from the then NBA commissioner, David Stern. However, in a Cigar Aficionado interview from a couple of years after his 3rd and final retirement (in 2003), Jordan revealed he was addicted to Golf much more than gambling. NBA even fined him $10,000 for it on multiple occasions.
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Golf wasn’t something that Jordan started playing after he had become a basketball player. It never came as a leisure of practicing a recreational sport. He first tried his hands on golf in 1984 after losing the East Regional semi-finals basketball game and scoring 13 points in it.
It would turn out to be his last game for UNC but would result in giving him a lifetime addiction to something else. He could hold his own so great in Golf, that ‘His Airness’ would even become friends with the GOAT, Tiger Woods, after playing some friendly games with him.
Mike loved golf so much that even paying hefty fines for it would not budge him from playing the game.
Michael Jordan received multiple $10,000 fines during All-Star games
The 1997-98 season was a tumultuous one for the Bulls. Since the start, it was abundantly clear that the 5x champs were breaking up at the end of the season, irrespective of the results.
By the rear end of the season, during the All-Star break, Michael Jordan was nowhere to be found. The man who was rumored to retire at the end of the season, unlike any of his teammates was not appearing for the practice sessions.
As Sunday’s All-Star game was too close, the NBA fined Jordan $10,000, for missing practice on Friday. However, it was a ritual according to a Washington Post article by Ric Bucher in 1998.
“As has been his custom the last few years, Jordan paid the $10,000 fine and skipped Friday’s events to play golf with Houston Rockets forward Charles Barkley in Las Vegas.”
And although Michael claims he wasn’t addicted to gambling as much as golf, you can bet he would not have played any game without putting something at stake. More often than not, it was some Greenbacks.
Jordan and Barkley are not even on speaking terms anymore
Charles Barkley and Jordan had a good friendship despite their on-court rivalry. You can imagine how well they bonded as he paid 10s of thousands of dollars in fines to play golf with Barkley. And now he is not even on speaking terms with one of his closest pals.
According to Chuck, MJ broke off their friendship when the Suns’ legend gave his opinion on Jordan’s failure as an owner of the Charlotte Hornets.
Every basketball fan would want this friendship to be revived, if not for anything else, just to see Mike mock the Chuckster for his golf swing.
