Luc Longley was probably the least heralded name in the Chicago Bulls’ starting lineup during the franchise’s second three-peat, but that didn’t mean Michael Jordan treated him any differently than his other teammates. The retired big man shared in 2014 how a bad second-half showing once cost him any chance of future praise from MJ.
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Naturally, this came during one of Longley’s best performances of the year. But unfortunately for the Australian, the entirety of his production came during the opening half. The former Bulls star later revealed how Jordan complimented him for the first time in his Bulls tenure after a dominant stretch to start the contest.
“We were playing Detroit and I came out on fire in the first half. I think I had 17-18 points, half-a-dozen rebounds, a couple of blocks – playing like an All-Star,” Longley told Inside Sport in 2014. “For the first time ever, because Michael was very cautious with his praise, he came into the locker room high-fiving me, slapping me, hugging me, saying, ‘Man, you play like that, we’re going to win the world championship. That’s awesome! You’re an All-Star. Why don’t you play like that every day? I knew you had it in ya.'”
Jordan had a tendency to believe he affected everything that happened within the team, so when his big man put up a dud in the second half, the Hall of Famer seemingly blamed himself for showering Longley with praise.
The 10-year veteran explained that after he failed to improve on his halftime statistics, Air Jordan candidly informed him that would be the end of all the flattery.
“Anyway, so we went out for the second half … and I finished the game with exactly the same stat line as I had at half-time. I had a terrible second half. We came in after the game – we’d won. When everybody else was happy to be winning, Michael was furious. He said, ‘Luc, I am never, ever going to say a nice thing about you again,'” Longley had revealed.
He also declared that his performance didn’t plummet due to complacency, but for a lack of good opportunities. But Jordan had made up his mind.
The three-time champion underlined that Jordan stayed true to his word, never paying him a compliment again. MJ’s disappointment may have affected their relationship down the line too, as Longley was notably excluded from Jordan’s docuseries, The Last Dance.
Luc Longley was surprisingly absent from The Last Dance
Despite serving as Chicago’s starting center each season from 1995-96 to 1997-98, Longley was shockingly left out of the legendary guard’s documentary, detailing a behind-the-scenes look at the franchise’s second three-peat.
The center discussed the letdown of not being included in the series, “Sitting there on the couch and watching episode after episode where I wasn’t in it — yeah, I was bummed about that.”
The series director explained that Longley was excluded due to lack of funds available for the crew to make the trip to Australia. However, Jordan noted that the big man’s omission was one of his biggest regrets surrounding The Last Dance.
