NBA legend Michael Jordan stopped hanging out with his Chicago Bulls teammates after he saw them smoking weed and doing cocaine in a hotel room during his rookie season.
During Jordan’s first couple of years with the Bulls, he played with guys who did a lot of drugs and partied a lot.
In Episode 1 of ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” Jordan spoke about walking into a hotel room filled with girls and drugs.
“I had one event,” Jordan said. “Preseason, I think we were in Peoria. It was in a hotel. So I’m trying to find my teammates. So I started knocking on doors. I get to this one door, and I knock on the door, and I can hear someone says, ‘Shh, someone’s outside,’ And then you hear this deep voice says, ‘Who is it?’ I says, ‘MJ.’ And then they all say, ‘Ah fu*k, he’s just a rookie. Don’t worry about it.’
“So they open up the door. I walk in and practically the whole team was in there. And it was like things I’ve never seen in my life, you know, as a young kid. You got your lines over here. You got your weed smokers over here. You got your women over here.
“So the first thing I said, ‘Look man. I’m out.’ Because all I could think about is if they come and raid this place right about now, I am just as guilty as everybody else that’s in this room. And from that point on, I was more or less on my own.”
Jordan never smoked weed or did any drugs. He focused on being the best basketball player possible and avoided hanging out with negative influences.
“I enjoyed, you know, just hanging out, playing cards, watching movies, you know, I wasn’t going to the clubs,” Jordan said. “I don’t smoke, I don’t do lines, I didn’t drink at the time. I was looking just to get some rest, get up and go play.”
Jordan had two stints with the Bulls. He won five MVPs, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, 10 scoring titles, three steals titles, six championships and six Finals MVPs.
Chicago went 6-0 in the NBA Finals and three-peated twice during the Jordan era.
The Bulls won championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998. They defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics and Utah Jazz (twice).
Jordan smoked cigars and occasionally drank beer and wine. However, he never did anything illegal.
Arguably the best basketball player ever, Jordan is first in NBA history in points per game, fourth in steals, fifth in field goals and second in player efficiency rating. He holds the NBA record for most points (63) scored in a playoff game.
Jordan has career averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.8 blocks with the Bulls and Washington Wizards.
MJ was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. He currently has a net worth of $3.2 billion.
Jordan is 61 years old. He sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall for an approximately $3 billion valuation.
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