If there is one thing Michael Jordan is renowned for in the basketball community, it’s his relentless drive to get better and come out on top. Jordan worked day and night during his days in high school and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to eventually make it to the NBA and once he did, there was no stopping him.
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His competitiveness bled into every single aspect of his life. Whether it was rounds of golf against guys like Charles Barkley and Chuck Daly or a ping-pong match against Christian Laettner, MJ wanted to win regardless of the activity.
Jordan become so maniacal when it came to wanting to win at the game of basketball over and over again that he even resorted to physical violence against his own teammates. Steve Kerr getting punched by ‘His Airness’ made national headlines after it had gotten leaked to the press but it seems as though something like this was a normal occurrence at Bulls practices.
Also read: Michael Jordan’s “Favorite” Game Worn Air Jordan Concord 11 Goes for a Whopping $92,000!
Will Perdue on Michael Jordan punching Steve Kerr
Will Perdue played on the Chicago Bulls from 1988-1995. He was witness to 2 types of Jordan: one who fought hard to make it to the top after years worth of beatings from the Detroit Pistons and the other who finally overcame that hurdle and won three straight championships.
After the Steve Kerr-Jordan kerfuffle, Perdue would go on to seemingly confirm that this wasn’t the first time someone had tussled with MJ during practice. The wild part about this is that they would continue to play on after getting into physical altercations like nothing happened.
“That wasn’t the only fight. That was one of numerous. And the funny thing was, in that practice that it happened in, we basically separated, regrouped and kept practicing. It wasn’t like that was the end of the practice. Stuff like that was common,” said Will.
Steve Kerr was thankful towards Michael Jordan in the end
Despite getting punched by Michael Jordan, Steve Kerr remains to be thankful towards the 6x champ. He even admitted to not taking the punch personally as he said him fighting back made MJ respect him even more afterwards.
Though, Kerr did once delve deep into why he’s grateful for Michael, saying that it was because he was a part of those championship teams that he was looked at for jobs after his retirement from playing.
Kerr has succeeded in every facet of the post-game life, doing everything from broadcasting to analysis to now, coaching the most successful team of the past 10 years.
