Michael Jordan Forced Himself To Guard Eddie Jones Due To Him Sporting Jordans, Says Nick Van Exel

Athletes need motivation to be at their best, and some of the greatest in history thrive on developing rivalries. Michael Jordan had a habit of forming “micro-rivalries” of sorts, where he would hype himself up by creating vendettas in his head while on the court. Eddie Jones was one such player who got caught in MJ’s crosshairs.

Nick Van Exel, a former NBA All-Star, recently shared his take on why Jordan was different. Recalling a game he played against Jordan’s Chicago Bulls while he and Jones were with the Lakers, Van Exel explained how Jordan insisted on guarding Jones mid-game.

Jones didn’t try to trash-talk Jordan. Like most players in the 1990s, he knew better than that. In fact, he may have been admiring Jordan a bit too much because he was sporting his shoes. Sadly, that turned out to be a mistake.

Van Exel said, “My teammate, Eddie Jones, he was brand Jordan. We’re all on the free-throw line, us three, and then Jordan looked down. Eddie Jones is wearing his Jordans, he was like ‘I got him, he got on my shoes..'” 

Most players in the NBA would be flattered to see others wearing their shoes. Jordan, perhaps, felt the same internally. But his competitive desire outshone that, and he used it as fuel to motivate himself. And so, Jordan became the one guarding Jones for the rest of the night.

Van Exel further stated that Jordan always targeted players who would be repping his brand. So, those wearing the iconic shoes on the court in the ’90s almost always had a target painted on their back.

That said, even though this seemed like a small reason to get himself hyped up, there was nothing particularly wrong about it. There were times Jordan went above and beyond to create fake narratives just to spice things up.

Jordan’s revenge on LaBradford Smith

LaBradford Smith, the 19th pick in the 1991 Draft, found himself in the league’s spotlight when Michael Jordan went public and claimed that the Washington Bullets guard had told him, “Nice game,” after dropping 37 points on him in a 1993 regular-season matchup.

How could a role player trash-talk Jordan, a man with arguably the best killer instinct among NBA athletes, ever?

Jordan, in the next game against the Bullets, put up 36 in the first-half, with people convinced that it was Smith’s remarks that woke a beast inside the Chicago Bulls icon. They also defeated the Bullets convincingly. Revenge was served cold.

Alas, years later, this whole thing got debunked when Jordan admitted that he lied to get some extra fire ahead of the fixture against Washington. It was a blatant lie he had told himself. But he believed it was real, and that’s what made him perform as well as he did.