Michael Jordan once admitted to his teammates that Blazers legend and NBA champion Clyde Drexler was just as good as him.
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Michael Jordan is known to many as the greatest hooper to ever lace up. During the early parts of his career, he was known for his soaring dunks, and during the tail-end, his leaning fadeaways. In many ways, he was the ideal player for that era, and has countless achievements to show for it.
Clyde Drexler himself was a very accomplished player. Over the course of his career, the great accumulated 10 All-Star appearances, 5 All-NBA selections, and an NBA championship.
As the story goes, Michael Jordan resented Clyde Drexler for the players being compared. And so, as revenge, he essentially went off every night, motivated to show their difference in ability.
His Airness has never liked being compared to anyone. The former player has always believed that he is in a class of his own. So, when it came out that many believed Clyde Drexler was just as good as him, he admitted he took insult to that.
But it seems there may have been some truth to those comparisons, as a former teammate of Jordan reveals.
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A former teammate of Michael Jordan reveals what he thought of Clyde Drexler
But while Jordan told the world he was offended by the comparison, according to his former teammate Craig Hodges, his opinion on the player was slightly different.
Speaking to DJ Vlad of Vlad TV, this is what he had to say on the matter.
“Not every great athlete is marketable… I remember having a conversation one time, it was like four of us, MJ included. And the conversations came up about Clyde Drexler. And MJ said this: ‘Clyde Drexler is just as good as me. He just don’t know how to play the game.’ And we ain’t talking about basketball.”
Hodges went on to talk about the marketability of Michael Jordan. It was his belief that Jordan thought of Clyde Drexler as an equal on the court. But what differentiated them, was the latter’s lack of ability to make himself marketable to the world.
How a player markets himself can make a huge difference in conversations where a player of similar talent may be compared. And according to Craig Hodges, the comparison between MJ and Clyde the Glide is one of the biggest pieces of evidence a fan of NBA will ever find.
