‘Wizards locker room did not even give Michael Jordan a farewell gift’: How MJ was considered cancerous by his own team

Michael Jordan came back to the league for his third go-around with the Washington Wizards. But it was far from sunshine and roses.

As goes the Shakespeare quote, uneasy is the head that wears the crown. Michael Jordan had held a front office position with the Wizards in DC after his retirement. But his influence was hardly a booster for the franchise which had its last 50-win season in the 70s.

It was clear right off the bat that Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards weren’t a match made in heaven. If we are to believe the words of a long-time Washington Post writer, things were even worse than we know.

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What Wes Unseld told sportswriter about Michael Jordan and his Wizards tenure

Mike Wise of the Washington Post had a tête-à-tête with Wes Unseld, commonly considered the greatest player in Wizards history. According to Wise, Unseld knew of some ugly aspects of Michael’s Wizards tenure:

“Michael has been great for many of us in this organization in ways that has raised the value of the franchise, has made us respectable in other ways. And yet, he’s poisoned the locker room.”

“How do I know that? I just went around and asked every player if they would chip in for a retirement gift for him, give him something nice. All of them turned their backs on me. Every player. Unanimously.” Unseld explained.

It wasn’t always easy being Michael Jordan

Former NBA player @etanthomas36, who played with MJ for two seasons on the Wizards, said Jordan used to tell his teammates in the locker room all the time that ‘being MJ’ isn’t what they think it is.

A must watch pic.twitter.com/3YwhGi9Rep

— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) May 5, 2020

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Jordan is reputed to have ruined the psyche of Kwame Brown, whom the Wizards selected with the #1 overall pick in 2001. He definitely left a lot to be desired as a supportive teammate, given all the accounts that have come out over the years. He definitely didn’t handle the ‘crown’ of being the leader all that graciously.