Michael Jordan was even a bigger bully off the court than he was on it, and his teammates are the witnesses to his bizarre behavior
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We have all heard the stories of Jordan being a bully to his teammates and treating them like they didn’t belong where they were after applying their entire youth to reach there.
From Robert Parish to Toni Kukoc everyone playing for the Bulls between 1984 and 1988 had seen or has gone through disrespect by His Airness at some point in their career.
But what Washington Wizards’ Kwame Brown went through, could not have been comparable to any of the 5x MVP’s previous rash treatment of his teammates.
Michael Jordan called out Kwame Brown in front of his team
Punching a 6’3 slender man in front of the whole team is one thing, but calling a 7-footer “fag*ot” is a whole other level of bullying.
And MJ didn’t hesitate in doing any of those things during the prime of his career or towards the end of it. The man was literally the same through and through.
According to some Sports Illustrated and Washington Post reports, Jordan, who had come off his second retirement to play and get a piece of the Washington Wizards’ ownership back in 2001, made Brown’s life a living hell for the two years they were there.
Brown was the 1st pick of the 2001 Draft coming out of Glynn Academy high school as a 6’11 Center, preferred by the team President, MJ, himself.
But as soon as the 19-year-old came in, Jordan was all over him, “ritually reducing Brown to tears in front of his teammates”. Washington Post called Kwame MJ’s whipping boy, who usually call him by some outrageous names like “Flaming fag*ot”.
MJ’s belittling might have suppressed Brown’s growth
Although, as soon as he came into the league, Kwame found it difficult to follow up on his message to coach Head Coach Dough Collins, “If you draft me, you’ll never regret it.”
He couldn’t show much in training and saw just over 14 minutes per game in his rookie year, averaging 4.5 points, and 3.5 rebounds per game.
But what a 35-year-old Jordan did to him during his 2-year stint with the club as a teammate and president couldn’t have encouraged him to do better.
However strong his will could have been, a 19-year-old boy, who couldn’t utter a word against the bullying he was receiving from the GOAT of the game, could not have overcome it while he was already on a downward trajectory in his career.
Proving to be one of the biggest busts of all time, Brown still played 12 years in the league for seven different franchises. But guess where the then 22-year-old landed after his 3-year stay in Washington?
Los Angeles Lakers – the team of a man who was a bigger bully than even Jordan – Kobe Bryant. Wildest of ironies, isn’t it?
