Michael Jordan’s Former Teammate Says Players ‘Feared’ MJ And Didn’t Want To Play Against Him: ‘Opponents Really Didn’t Want To Play Against Him, There Was Just This Fear Factor With Him’

NBA icon Michael Jordan‘s former teammate says players “feared” the Chicago Bulls legend and didn’t want to play against him. 

Jud Buechler, who won three NBA championships with Jordan, told Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype in 2020 that players were scared to face MJ. 

“Yeah, well, the thing that I don’t think a lot of the younger-generation players (who didn’t have a chance to see him play) understand about Michael is that people feared him,” Buechler said. “There was fear. As great as the players are in today’s game, I don’t know if anyone’s really feared like Michael was. I mean, opponents really didn’t want to play against him. And then you add Scottie into the mix, and those guys were just relentless on defense. But especially MJ, he just had this aura about him. And he was mentally so tough and obviously such a gifted player and athlete that a lot of guys didn’t want any part of him, didn’t really want to step up to that challenge because he embarrassed a lot of guys. There was just this fear factor with him, unlike any other player I’ve ever seen.”

With the Bulls, Jordan won six championships, six Finals MVPs, five regular-season MVPs, 10 scoring titles, three steals titles and one Defensive Player of the Year Award. He’s arguably the best player in NBA history. 

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’s first in NBA history in points per game, fourth in steals, fifth in field goals and second in player efficiency rating.

“I know the guys who were part of that second group that won those three championships in the late ‘90s, we all really appreciated it,” Buechler said. “I had been in the league for four years and I had been on some really bad teams that hadn’t won a lot of games. We were winning and witnessing Jordan’s greatness along with Scottie’s and Dennis’ and being coached by Phil, and I think we all appreciated it. No one took it for granted. We were like, “This is incredible!” All of us just felt so lucky to be there. And I think with this documentary right now, it’s just a reminder to me; I mean, I just feel so fortunate that I was there during that run, for sure.”

Jordan crossed the line several times. He punched Will Perdue and Steve Kerr and told teammates not to pass the ball to Bill Cartwright in crunch time. 

However, Jordan’s fiery leadership style worked, as the Bulls won six championships, went undefeated in the NBA Finals and three-peated twice in the ’90s. 

“I pulled people along when they didn’t wanna be pulled,” Jordan said. “I challenged people when they didn’t wanna be challenged and I earned that right because my teammates came after me. They didn’t endure all the things that I endured. Once you join the team, you live at a certain standard that I play the game and I wasn’t gonna take anything less.

“Now, if that means I had to go in and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates, the one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn’t f—ing do. When people see this, they gonna say, ‘Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ Well, that’s you because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this. I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t wanna play that way, don’t play that way.”

Jordan got emotional while saying that last line in “The Last Dance.” He cried and asked the camera crew for a “break.”

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