For many NBA players, Michael Jordan has never just been a basketball icon. He’s been something closer to a myth. MJ was the greatest of his generation and arguably one of the best to ever hold a basketball. So much so that legends like Shaquille O’Neal have admitted that meeting MJ felt like coming face-to-face with God. Now, Jamal Crawford has come forward to share a similar experience.
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Crawford, the eighth pick of the 2000 Draft, grew up idolizing Jordan. Like countless others who watched MJ dominate the ’90s, he admired Jordan. Call it fate, but Crawford ended up wearing No. 23, just like his idol, during his time at Rainier Beach High School. He originally wanted No. 5, but his coach had other ideas. Today, he thanks him for that.
Years later, Crawford finally had the chance to meet the man he had spent his youth looking up to for inspiration. The moment didn’t disappoint. But even with Jordan standing right in front of him, Crawford said it still didn’t feel real.
“I’m looking at him and he looks like there’s white smoke around him like the Chappelle Show,” he said on Eye for the Game. He was referring to the sketch narrated by Charlie Murphy where Prince emerges from a cloud of smoke, symbolizing an otherworldly presence. That’s exactly how Jordan felt in that moment. Larger than life, almost divine.
And yet, Crawford went on to point out that he knew a “million different things” about the GOAT. He was a human being, just like everyone else. It just didn’t seem that way. “I could tell you everything about this dude, and I’m right in front of him, and this dude inspired me a million miles away, not literally a million, but it felt like it,” he added.
Thankfully for the three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year, it was the start of a relationship from which he learned a lot. After their memorable first encounter, MJ and Crawford started working together. He once said, “Michael Jordan, when I was working out with him in Chicago. He said, ‘A lot of people that come with the game but don’t actually love the game,’ and that stuck with me.”
Through workouts and practice, Crawford also earned a rare honor of beating MJ in a game.
Crawford beat Jordan’s team before joining his side
During an appearance on The Pivot Podcast, Crawford shared that people often talk about him and MJ playing together, but in the beginning, they were actually on opposing teams. He said, “First time, we actually played against each other. Different teams, not one-on-one. And I think our team won, and I saw how mad he was.”
At the time, Jordan was nearly 40 years old, and it was just a practice game. Still, Crawford said MJ took the loss like it was Game 7 of the Finals. The next day, Jordan’s trainer, Tim Grover, started calling Crawford an hour before the run was scheduled to start.
“He waited till I got there. From that moment on, we played together and we never lost,” Crawford revealed. He said that the new duo played against the likes of Penny Hardaway, Tim Hardaway, Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, and more, but they remained undefeated.
