“Michael Jordan never put anyone else through that much”: Steve Kerr explains why he shockingly chose a different Bulls teammate to toast instead of His Airness after their sixth championship

Steve Kerr shockingly chose to toast a different player instead of Bulls legend Michael Jordan after the team won its sixth championship

 

Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr never had a particularly close relationship while they were Bulls teammates. But, the two definitely had some serious mutual respect for each other.

First off, whether you’re his teammate or his opponent, how can you not respect Jordan? Back then he was the unanimous greatest player of all time. If you earned money from the sport, or even just followed it as a hobby, rule number one was to bow your head to his Airness.

While Kerr wasn’t as good as his teammate (who really was though?), he wasn’t a slouch either. In fact, he was one of the best shooters in the league during his playing days, which was a big reason why MJ respected him so much.

With this connection between them, you’d expect Steve Kerr to toast to the man at any chance he gets right? But, when the opportunity arose, it seems the man had other ideas.

What are we talking about, you ask? Well, let’s get into it.

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Steve Kerr chose to raise a toast to Toni Kukoc for everything he had gone through with Michael Jordan and the team

Everybody that has watched ‘The Last Dance’ knows painfully well what Jordan’s and Scottie Pippen’s perception of Jerry Krause was at the time. And for those that haven’t watched the series yet, spoiler alert, they absolutely despised him.

So, when Krause looked to introduce Kukoc as his shining new key to the present and the future, of course, the team’s to best stars had a problem with it.

Eventually, though, they all worked things out. Still, it seems the things that Kukoc had to bear made an impression on Steve Kerr.

After the Bulls won their sixth championship, Phil Jackson organized a team dinner. Here, many players toasted to His Airness. But Steve Kerr chose to toast to Toni Kukoc. And many years down the line, he chose to explain why.

“I said a toast to Toni [Kukoc]… Nobody had to go through what he did — the pressure from Michael [Jordan] and Scottie [Pippen] to earn his keep. Michael and Scottie are all over him about being Jerry [Krause]’s guy. And Toni just [wanted] to play. And so, I just said a toast to Toni, because I thought he was such a great player. I wanted him to know how much he meant to our team.”

Putting this level of thought behind a simple toast really tells you how kind a person Steve Kerr really is.

Honestly, amid all the brutally competitive greats with sometimes horrible attitudes, we think Kerr’s thoughtfulness deserves just a bit more love from the NBA community.

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