Michael Jordan’s aura has lived on long after he called it a career. It lives on through his sneakers, which are still the biggest name in a billion-dollar industry. It lives on through his old highlights, many of which are mind-boggling to watch even now. But most of all, it lives on through the stories told by those he played against. If you don’t believe in his greatness, just listen to the way his peers talk about him.
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Vernon Maxwell is one of those former players with a reverence for Mike. Moreover, as someone who won two rings with the Rockets when Jordan temporarily left the NBA to pursue his baseball dream, he knows better than most the impact His Airness had.
Mad Max joined the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast this week, and in his own inimitable way, he described what it was like to go against the six-time champ.
“It was scary, man,” he said of seeing the Bulls on the schedule.
“Just getting ready to play against this m*********** … I’m thinking about this s***, we playing this m********** like a week later. I’m thinking about that m********* then. I see that n**** on the calendar, and I say, ‘Oh lod, here we go.’ We gotta get ready for this s***,” he reminisced.
Jordan’s legendary combination of natural ability and competitive fire got in opponents’ heads long before he took the court against them. Maxwell said that his mom used to encourage him to lay down and put his feet up before playing MJ so that he’d be rested enough to compete. That meant no going out, no asking women out, nothing like that.
Most modern NBA GOAT debates center around Jordan vs. LeBron James, but Maxwell wasn’t having any of that. Jordan is the clear No. 1 for him. “I ain’t seen nothing like it, man,” he said. “You had to be out there to see this s***.”
Not only does LeBron not compete with Jordan in his mind, the kid from Akron isn’t number two, either. That honor belongs to Kobe Bryant.
“Kobe’s a dawg, man,” he said. “LeBron, he make the right plays, he do all the right s***, you know? He play the right way, you know what I mean? Kobe was a motherf*****, a natural born killer, a f***** killer.”
Maxwell sure has a way with words, but in his unique way, he summed up both players pretty perfectly. After that, it comes down to personal preference, and it’s no surprise that someone nicknamed Mad Max values being a killer above all else.
