Michael Jordan is a character above and beyond the realms of mortal understanding. He is a living legend that sits beside gods. His place is not with mere men. Perhaps, he is a god too. The god of basketball. And like many gods, Jordan has an epic origin story. A story that led him to NBA and subsequently in the history books. But somewhere along the journey, closer to the start than the finish, a young MJ was busy pretending to be like his hero Magic Johnson.
Advertisement
In his book Michael Jordan: The Life, Roland Lazenby detailed how Jordan tried a few different tricks to behave more like Magic.
Lazenby, while discussing Michael’s high school career, began to discuss his conquests and the start of his legacy. He wrote how the young, then 6′ ft 4″, high school student was dominating. A lot of the motivation to pull off such crafty moves was provided by Magic Johnson. For Michael, Magic was his hero and he was trying his best to emulate him.
Michael Jordan drove with Magic Mike license plates
MJ was deeply impressed by Johnson’s passing abilities. Although the leading scorer for his team, he was hell-bent on learning how to drop a no-look dime like Magic. During his rise as a high school baller, Jordan surrendered his time to perfect the no-look.
Seeing him pull off these extraordinary tricks, a teammate began calling MJ ‘Magic Mike.’ He even gifted Michael a license plate that read the same. Jordan revealed the exact details of the story to a local sports writer Chuck Carree.
Jordan: “It started one day in practice. When I started doing some freaky things like Johnson does. I made some passes looking away and one of my teammates started calling me ‘Magic Mike.’ He bought me the license tag on the back, and my girlfriend got me a T-shirt and front license tag with ‘Magic Mike’ on it.”
Michael outdid his hero Magic Johnson
Michael considered Magic his hero. He was deeply impressed by what the Lakers guard was doing on the NBA court. Of course, he also appreciated Larry Bird. But Michael Jordan revered Magic more than anyone else.
Yet, Michael will go down in history as a far superior player than Magic. This is in no manner an insult to Johnson. After all, there is no denying Magic’s legacy. But this statement is just an acknowledgment of MJ’s reign.
Jordan is widely considered to be the greatest to ever play. On the other hand, Johnson is a top-ten player of all-time at best. What a thrill it must be to overcome the bar set by your childhood hero.
Also read: Shaquille O’Neal’s Daughter Taahirah O’Neal Is One Step Away from Accessing $400 Million
