Michael Jordan was so committed to being better than his contemporaries that he even paid his trainer to not train with anyone else. Tim Grover has gained a lot of acclaim for turning Jordan into the Championship-winning machine he became in the 90s. But all that success cost him other clients.
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Grover joined the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard and shared his experiences as Jordan’s performance coach. As extraordinary as Grover and Jordan’s partnership was, their partnership’s origin was just as special. The famous trainer was struggling with gigs when he first made a pitch to MJ to completely transform his conditioning.
“I put a plan together, and I said, ‘Give me 30 days.’ 30 days turned into 15 years, and six championships later, gold medals, everything,” said Grover.
Due to the success of the Chicago Bulls, which was directly tied to Jordan’s dominance, Grover started to receive plenty of attention from other players who were interested in his service. However, Jordan made sure to set the record straight with anyone who inquired.
“Michael has this saying, they had to get his permission,” said Grover. “When they asked him whether they could work with me, he was like, ‘Listen, I don’t pay him to train me. I pay him to not train anybody else.’ So for many years up until that point, he didn’t allow me to work out with other individuals.”
Eventually, Grover revealed, that MJ would allow him to train other clients during the offseason.
With Grover utilizing his skills to train others, Jordan came together with the renowned trainer to create a program called ‘The Breakfast Club’, where he invited his Bulls teammates to work out with Grover. Most notably, Scottie Pippen and Ron Harper became members of ‘The Breakfast Club’ and worked out with Jordan every morning.
However, the extent to which Jordan would go to deny Grover’s services even extended to one of his closest friends.
Jordan almost didn’t allow Kobe to train with Tim Grover
The late great Kobe Bryant was seen as the second coming of Jordan due to his swagger, playing style and more importantly, his unwavering work ethic. However, although the two shared a close relationship, Jordan nearly didn’t allow Bryant to have Grover as a trainer.
Kobe reached out to Jordan for some guidance in relieving pressure on his knees in 2007. Despite his initial hesitance, MJ eventually provided Kobe with Grover’s contact information due to the sole fact that he was retired and no longer working with the trainer.
Grover would help Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers reach three straight NBA Finals, proving his worth as one of the greatest basketball trainers ever.
