“Michael Jordan let me stay at his house then dropped 55 on me”: Juwan Howard recounts the Bulls legend’s kind gesture leading to an early exit from the Playoffs

Juwan Howard talks about Michael Jordan letting him stay at his house over the summer but then having to face him on the court. 

Michael Jordan is known for excellence in a plethora of aspects of the game of basketball. One that stands out is his competitive vigor. Regardless of your relationship with him, once he laced up to take to NBA hardwood, it felt as though he had never even had a conversation with you. 

His ferocity on the basketball didn’t limit him from being a kind man off the court however. He made several friends within the league and would have friendly banter with the likes of Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, amongst others.

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His kindness extended to players who weren’t all too well known as well. Juwan Howard had merely finished his rookie season at the end of the 1994-95 campaign. He averaged around 17 points and 8 rebounds his rookie year and looked to get better. 

Naturally, training with some who trains Michael Jordan would be the way to go and so he employed the services of Tim Grover. 

Juwan Howard says Michael Jordan allowed him to stay at his house over a summer. 

Given that Michael Jordan was his biggest client, Tim Grover moved to Los Angeles during the summer of 1995 to help him train while shooting Space Jam. Juwan had no choice but to move to LA for that summer if he wanted to train with Grover as well. 

Unbeknownst to him, Jordan would offer up residence at his 10,000+ sq ft mansion in LA to him as his wife was headed back home. The two would go on to train together under Tim Grover.

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These sessions over the 1995 summer actually seemed to have paid off as the very next season Juwan Howard would go on to average 22 points on 49% shooting from the field, en route to his first and only All-Star Game. 

However, merely a 2 years down the line from Jordan’s gesture, he would go on to drop 55 points on Howard’s Washington Bullets in Game 2 during the 1997 Playoffs, further establishing that the ‘GOAT’ separates his personal life from his work life very well.