By now, you've no doubt heard the story about the time Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr in the face during a Bulls practice back in the late 1990s. Kerr himself has come out and talked openly about it. But according to Horace Grant, who made an appearance on Hot 97 recently, Kerr was not the only Bulls player to meet the wrath of MJ.
During his Hot 97 interview, Grant talked about how fights broke out pretty frequently during Bulls practices.
"Our practices were so intense because Phil [Jackson], the mastermind behind everything, would put MJ on the second team," Grant said. "Me and Scottie [Pippen] would be on the first team and being competitive like he was, man, unreal, unreal. Of course punches got thrown, many fights. I'm just so happy that social media wasn't [around] back then."
Grant also talked specifically about the time that MJ went toe-to-toe with Chicago center Will Perdue. MJ got the better of him, but it wasn't because Perdue couldn't fight. Rather, it was because MJ's teammates weren't going to allow anyone to lay a finger on the best player in the NBA.
"I hate to tell the story...Will and I are still good friends," he said. "Typical Phil, we run this play and Will set an illegal pick on MJ and MJ said, 'Will, don't do that again.' 'Whatcha talking about?' That's Will. MJ says, 'Alright.' Phil says, 'Run it again.' So naturally, we run it two more times, illegal pick. MJ walks up to Will—boom. Lit him up. It was over. We grabbed Will. You're not going to hurt MJ. MJ can take care of himself. The next day on the plane, Will gets on with this huge shiner."
We can't say that we're necessarily surprised by any of this. MJ was legendarily competitive and probably punched all of his teammates at one time or another (he also reportedly punched Jud Buechler during his time with the Bulls). The stories just haven't come out yet.
But can you even imagine what would happen if, say, LeBron James threw a punch at Timofey Mozgov during practice today? Or Carmelo Anthony decked Cole Aldrich? Or Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scrapped in the middle of the floor in front of reporters? It would be such a mess because there would be YouTube clips and Vines of their fights all over her place. And yet, back in the 1980s and 1990s, that stuff happened all the time and no one knew about it.
Pretty crazy. You can watch Grant's entire interview with Hot 97 here:
[via Pro Basketball Talk]
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