Michael Jordan ‘Lived In A Different World’ From The Rest Of His Bulls Teammates: ‘You Can’t Imagine How Many Requests There Were’

According to NBA icon Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan “lived in a different world” from the rest of his Chicago Bulls teammates. 

Jordan was the most popular athlete in the world during the ’90s. 

“Playing cards was also an opportunity for Michael to get away from people who might otherwise approach him in the airport for an autograph or photo,” Pippen wrote in his book. “You can’t imagine how many requests there were, and that was before he became even more popular in the midnineties. Michael and I got along well enough, though I could tell even then we were never going to be close. Maybe if we had played golf together, with the Wilson clubs he gave me rookie year, it would have been different. I doubt it.

“He lived in a different world from the rest of us. It occurred to me on more than a few occasions: If this is what fame looks like, I don’t want any part of it. Everyone fussed over Michael as if he were the king of Siam. He was a basketball player.”

The beginning of Episode 6 of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries showed an old Jordan commercial where the NBA great spoke about his life not being as fun as everybody thought it was.

If you value your privacy, being Jordan when he was the most popular athlete in the world in the ’90s would have been a nightmare.

“It’s funny, a lot of people say they’d like to be Michael Jordan for a day or for a week, but let them try to be Michael Jordan for a year, see if they like it,” Jordan said in the commercial. “I don’t think you can see the true Michael Jordan for just a day. I don’t think they quite understand it’s no fun.”

Jordan was under pressure to be on with people all the time and Bulls senior director of public and media relations, Tim Hallam, saw it first-hand in the ’90s.

Almost everyone wanted to be like Jordan back in the day, which is why Gatorade came out with the “Be Like Mike” commercial. However, Hallam was one of the few people who knew that being Jordan was an “impossible task.”

“I think what people don’t realize is that from the moment Michael Jordan leaves his hotel room, the spotlight is on him,” Hallam said in The Last Dance. “Everybody in the world wanted to either see him, talk to him. They all wanted a piece of him in some way or another. He was under pressure to be on all the time with people. I wouldn’t want to be like Mike. It’s an impossible task.”

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. He won five MVPs, one Rookie of the Year Award, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, six championships, six Finals MVPs, 10 scoring titles and three steals titles. 

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.