LOS ANGELES — In February, while delivering a stunning eulogy at Kobe Bryant’s memorial service, Michael Jordan cried.
On Sunday, in an equally revealing moment involving the two NBA legends, Michael Jordan ripped him.
It was in a video from 1998, in New York’s Madison Square Garden, before the only NBA All-Star game featuring both men. Jordan, sitting in the East locker room, was chasing down his sixth championship. Bryant, sitting down the hall in the West locker room, was a 19-year-old prodigy whose self-assurance was resented by his peers.
In a striking scene that leads off the fifth episode of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” — a documentary series on the final season of Jordan with the Chicago Bulls — Jordan openly mocks the new kid.
“That little Laker boy’s gonna take everybody one-on-one,” he says to big laughs.
(Yes, Jordan once referred to Bryant as a “little Laker boy.”)
“He don’t let the game come to him … he just go out there and take it,” said Jordan, who then imitated Bryant by saying with an expletive, “ ‘I’m gonna make this … happen, I’m going to make this a one-on-one game.’ “
(Yes, Jordan actually imitated him.)
Another voice in the locker room is heard from an unseen person, apparently talking about a previous experience with Bryant, saying, “I figured after the first four attempts didn’t go in, he was gonna chill.”
This really got Jordan going, and he profanely exclaims, “After the first four attempts? If I was his teammate, I wouldn’t pass him the … ball.
“You want this ball again, brother,” he added, “you better rebound.”
(Yeah, he actually said he would never pass him the ball.)
The disrespect continued during the All-Star game, as the cameras caught Jordan trashing Bryant on the bench to teammates during a timeout.
“He just wants to go to the offensive end and go one-on-one,” Jordan announced. “I’m gonna make his ass work down there.”
After the game, during which Jordan was the MVP and outscored Bryant 23-18 while playing 10 more minutes, the two men briefly hugged with Jordan saying pleasantly, “I’ll see you down the road.”
But by then, the curtain had been pulled back and the message was clear. Jordan was not willing to share the road with Bryant. Jordan was not his friend.
