‘He’s Scared, I’ll Knock His Brains Out’: Michael Jordan Never Played Basketball With Tiger Woods Due To Woods Being Afraid

In the 90s, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods were two of the most well-known people in the world. Jordan was the best player in the NBA, while Woods was climbing up the ranks on the golf course.

Since they were both athletes and international icons, Jordan and Woods developed a friendship. Jordan played golf with Woods several times since he’s an avid golfer.

However, Woods never played basketball with Jordan since he was scared.

After winning his fifth NBA championship in 1997, Jordan was asked by SLAM Magazine if he played basketball with Woods. While Jordan admitted Woods had talent, he revealed Woods was too afraid to play him in a real game.

“He’s scared. I’ll knock his brains out. I’m in a contact sport,” Jordan said. “He can’t hit me on the golf course. Basketball, I’d knock him out. But I could see his talents. That goes without question. He’s a good kid. He doesn’t intimidate me on the golf course.”

Not only were Jordan and Woods the top players in their respective sports in the late ’90s, but they were also in the limelight continuously and faced unreasonable expectations. Although Jordan could relate to Woods, he told SLAM that he felt sorry for the pro golfer. 

Jordan felt bad for Woods since he knew what Woods would have to deal with moving forward regarding expectations, responsibilities and social pressure.

“He doesn’t know what he’s got to deal with,” Jordan said. “It’s unbelievable. And in terms of the hype and the expectations that I created, in terms of sports in America and the sports arena, his is gonna be 10 times harder than mine. In an individual sport, he doesn’t have support systems to help him overcome a bad day. If I have a bad game, we still can win. He has a bad game; he’s gonna be crucified on TV. It’s totally unfair. He’s in a game where he represents minorities in all respects. He’s certainly feeling — he carries those types of social pressures.”

Unfortunately for Woods, he didn’t handle being in the spotlight as gracefully as Jordan did. Although he’s undoubtedly one of the best — if not the best — golfers ever, Woods experienced an infidelity scandal in 2009 and was arrested in 2017 for driving under the influence.

Jordan is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He won six NBA championships and six Finals MVPs with the Chicago Bulls and never lost in the NBA Finals.

Jordan is also first in NBA history in points per game. 

Meanwhile, Woods is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Jordan averaged 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 Defensive Player of the Year Award, six championships, six Finals MVPs, three steals titles and 10 scoring titles.