During an appearance on The Herd in 2012, John Salley raised eyebrows all around with his comments about Michael Jordan. The former teammate of the Chicago Bulls legend openly snubbed him as the greatest of all time, also known as the GOAT. Instead, he backed Jordan’s contemporaries such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, and Hakeem Olajuwon as a part of this conversation.
Advertisement
In the presence of the host Colin Cowherd, the 59-year-old expressed his thoughts after rivaling MJ during his initial NBA years. The former representative of ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons publicly declared, “I love Michael. I’m a Michael Jordan fan, like everyone else. I just don’t think he’s the greatest player ever”.
Following this, the 4x champion further elaborated his stance highlighting, “I think the greatest player I ever played against was Magic Johnson. Next was Larry Bird. Then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The hardest guy I ever had to guard? Hakeem Olajuwon”.
Salley’s remarks shed light on how the opinions of the followers vary widely as each of these players contributed to redefining the game. While Abdul-Jabbar’s dominance in the paint alongside his iconic skyhook transformed the league, the Bird-Magic rivalry in the 1980s ‘saved the NBA’. On top of that, Olajuwon was deemed a better talent than Jordan in the early 1980s as he went higher in the draft before mesmerizing the viewers with his footwork as a center.
All in all, his statements more than a decade ago made the headlines as they challenged the beliefs of the mainstream narrative. While acknowledging the 5x MVP for his greatness, Salley dared to give flowers to his contemporaries. His unprecedented act confronted the established order as his parameters for judgment remained justified.
How his opinion of Michael Jordan developed over time
Salley has since maintained his stance as he has continued to back others over Jordan in the GOAT debate. One such instance took place in 2021 when the former power forward highlighted Bernard King in the conversation. During an interview with VLAD TV, he backed the former New York Knicks All-Star as his favorite player ever.
“My favorite player was Bernard King. If anybody from Brooklyn at that time would know Bernard King was the man. And Bernard blew his knee up. You would think it was totally over and then Bernard worked, worked, worked, worked, worked. Next thing you know he is getting 50-a-game again,” he mentioned on that occasion.
Thus, Salley has always been vocal about supporting a handful of other NBA icons over Jordan as the best ever. Over the years, the fans have speculated his connection with the Pistons and the rivalry between them and the Bulls as the major reasons behind it. Yet, it remained unclear whether the New York-born had any hidden agenda attached to his statements. So, the supporters could only respect his candid comments about the iconic NBA eras of the 1980s and the 1990s.
