Michael Rubin’s Summer Players Party brought quite a crowd, including the likes of Tom Brady, Turese Maxey, Michael Porter Jr., Paolo Banchero, Travis Scott, and Jack Harlow, among many others. Among the CEO of Fanatics’ guest list, sat Jalen Rose and Allen Iverson, who struck up an interesting conversation during the event. The former asked the latter about who his favorite player was growing up. Along with his answer, he also revealed a funny story from when Michael Jordan owned the Hornets, before his famous $3 billion sale of the majority stake.
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Allen Iverson entered the NBA in 1996, a time in which Jordan was the clear best player in the league. During that time, he and the Bulls were considered something akin to invincible. Yet, during his matchup against them, a young Iverson created a moment of a lifetime for NBA fans everywhere. To his own admission, it is a moment that MJ has been unable to forget to this day.
Allen Iverson reveals grudges held by Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is not a man used to losing in any shape or form. So, when a rookie Allen Iverson not only broke his ankles but also drained a shot over him, it instantly became an iconic moment. Watch the play happen, along with legend Isiah Thomas’s reaction, in the YouTube clip by the NBA below.
This is a moment that most NBA fans remember fondly. And despite all his winning in the NBA, Jordan can’t seem to forget it either. As Iverson revealed during his conversation with Rose, the Bulls legend revealed a few years ago during a Charlotte Hornets game that he still held a grudge over it. Here is what ‘AI’ said, as seen in the tweet by Clutchpoints.
“I kept telling him how much I love him… He was like, ‘Man, you don’t love me like that. Because if you did, you wouldn’t have crossed me.’ I felt bad but at the same time was like, ‘Mike(Michael Jordan), you was just a casualty at war.'”
Fortunately for Allen Iverson, despite Michael Jordan’s sour memory of the highlight, the two legends of the game are still very good friends. And more importantly here, despite the Bulls legend taking the event personally, there is no possibility of him trying to humiliate the 76ers legend on the basketball court.
Iverson cried for Jordan growing up
Michael Jordan saw quite a bit of success in the NBA. However, before he and his team won 6 championships, they kept losing to the Detroit Pistons over and over again. During that time, much like ‘Black Jesus’, his fans were stuck in a circle of anguish as well. Looking back at his experiences from that time, here is what Allen Iverson said on the matter.
“I learned from Mike. I always looked at him like a superhero. That was my guy. The way he wore his wristband, the bald head. I used to like when he had that bald head with the goatee and the brace around his shin, on his calf. The man was my hero. I remember crying back when the Pistons used to beat on him.
My mom had a TV sitting on a dresser, and I used to sit this close to the TV [puts his hand up to his face], know what I mean? “Back up before you go blind!” That’s how much I loved him. I wanted to be that close to him. He gave me the vision to be a basketball player.”
Given how invested he was, when Jordan eventually won his championships, Iverson likely celebrated as if they were his own.
