It takes quite a bit of antagonizing to get someone as calm and serenity-filled as Stever Kerr to begin giving pushback. Unfortunately for the Bulls locker room during the 1995-96 training camp, Kerr was pushed to his limits by Michael Jordan, leading to a fiery altercation. Decades later, Steve remembers it a bit differently.
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MJ has been known to talk trash regardless of which side he’s on. It could be argued he was harsher on his teammates than the competition to help extract the very best out of them. So, when he tried the same on Kerr during a scrimmage, it led to the sharpshooter shoving him back and even landing a body blow
Jordan didn’t take too lightly to this and punched him more than once, giving him a black eye. A fairly drastic measure as the team leader.
Reflecting on this now, he’s indulged in a bit of comedic revisionist history. “Kicked his a**. That poor guy. I still feel bad for him,” said Kerr. Steve obviously being sarcastic here as he’s the one who had to deal with getting his butt kicked (to a certain extent).
Steve Kerr reveals the Warriors have 2-3 fights a year
“It’s not like the normal rules of society, you can’t go into work in the office and punch somebody — in basketball you can kind of do that and it’s okay after.”
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Back in 2012, Kerr reflected on this moment and remembered it with more fondness than most would’ve. “It was one of the best things that ever happened for me, I needed to stand up and go back at him, I think I earned some respect. But we have a great relationship ever since.”
While Steve saw this event in a positive light in retrospect, Jordan didn’t. “It made me look at myself and say, ‘You know what? You’re really being an idiot about this whole process. I knew I had to be more respectful of my teammates.”
Funnily enough, Kerr had to face an eerily similar situation decades down the line. During the 2022 Warriors training camp, Draymond Green would punch Jordan Poole mid-practice, leading to quite the discourse over whether or not Green was right in doing so, with most siding against him.
Steve spoke on fights within a locker room, saying, “It’s not like the normal rules of society, you can’t go into work in the office and punch somebody. In basketball you can kind of do that and it’s okay after.”
For the everyday, run-of-the-mill working man, squaring up with a co-worker feels incredibly foreign. But, place yourself in a 6’8 athlete’s shoes in one of the most testosterone filled environments day in and day out and it’s hard not to imagine a few quarrels starting up every now and then.
