Rivalries are what make sports great, especially in the NBA. Reggie Miller was a player who knew how to butt heads with many different players throughout his career, but his destined feud was with Michael Jordan. In fact, the Knick Killer recently appeared on the All The Smoke podcast to revisit his battles with His Airness, and shared a funny story of a move he pulled against him that involved sneakers.
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There’s an unwritten rule in basketball. You never wear an opposing player’s shoes when playing against them on the court. Jordan once cemented this point to a young Kobe Bryant, who wore a pair of Jordans during a Lakers and Wizards matchup.
“You can put the shoes on, but you ain’t ever gonna fill them,” MJ told Kobe. That didn’t age well as the Black Mamba would get his revenge weeks later when he dropped 55 points against Jordan and the Wizards.
Miller’s story was even wilder. He told ATS that he used to wear Jordans just to get under MJ’s skin due to their heated competitiveness with one another. “I used to wear them just to irk him,” he stated with a smile. “I just wanted to f**k with him a little bit.” However, the mind game actually led to Miller getting signed by the Jordan brand.
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“The people called and was like, ‘Hey you want to be a part of the brand Jordan?'” You could see Miller remembering what he told the execs of his biggest rival’s shoe company. “I’m like, ‘Sh*t…alright. I’ll do it.'”
The Hall of Famer did have one request, though. “Be sure to put my name on them,” he recalled demanding before poking fun at the Jordan symbol being “spread eagle.” Miller got to have his own Jordan shoe, which was about as close to a slap in MJ’s face as he could get. But at the end of the day, Jordan still owned him in all facets of the game, even branding.
Reggie Miller disliked MJ so much that he said he would have refused a superteam had it been offered
Some people were just born to be rivals. That seemed to be the case between Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan, at least from Miller’s perspective. The Indiana Pacers legend disliked the GOAT so much that he told ESPN in 2021 he would have turned down a chance to team with him if the opportunity ever arose.
“If Michael Jordan ever would have called me and tried to sway me to come to Chicago, I would have told him to go (expletive) himself!” he screamed with sincerity. “I’ll be coming to see you on I-65,’ or whatever that highway is there. I’ll be down to see you.”
The term superteam feels like it wasn’t formed until LeBron James decided to go to Miami and partner up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Massive player pairings have been a staple of the NBA since its inception.
That said, Miller denying the opportunity to win a ton of rings because he hated Jordan that much? You have to respect it.
