Michael Jordan is undoubtedly one of the hardest working men in the history of the NBA. His work ethic is unparalleled and can only be compared to the uppermost echelon of athletes that have graced league hardwood such as his protégé, Kobe Bryant. However, even with all the motivation in the world to get better at the game of basketball, he didn’t feel that same type of fire within him anything else during his youth.
Jordan’s father, James Jordan, once stated that of his children, Michael was the laziest of them all. This is quite the statement given that his son Michael, is perhaps the greatest athlete across every single sport in the history of modern sports.
How can a man who is considered to be the ‘Greatest of all Time’ be lazy? Well, en route to making it to the NBA and once in the league, he never stopped working. Though, when it came to life outside of basketball, MJ wasn’t always the most motivated man on site.
Michael Jordan would pawn off his work to his siblings All Michael Jordan wanted to do was play basketball and practice his craft. He felt as though he didn’t have time to do anything else and even if he did, he didn’t want to. So, when time came for him to do chores around the house, he knew that he could get his siblings to do the work for him with a little bit of monetary persuasion.
“I used to give up whatever allowance I had to my brothers, for them to wash dishes for me and clean the house,” said Jordan during an interview with Playboy in 1992.
He would also go on to reveal that his father, James Jordan, would not like when he did this because in his words, he was a ‘mechanical person’. James appreciated hands on labor and Jordan simply wasn’t going to indulge in any of that. Fast-forward to today and he’s a multi-billionaire so he did eventually carry out his father’s wishes and put in the time to work.
Michael Jordan played baseball for his father After Michael’s father was tragically murdered in the summer of 1993, he would announce his retirement from the NBA after having been in the league for 9 years. after leaving the NBA, he would join the Birmingham Barons in the Minor Leagues of baseball.
The reason for this was because his father always wanted him to give baseball a shot given just how big of a fan he was of the sport. MJ also felt as though James Jordan saw his final NBA game and didn’t want to play anywhere unless his father was in attendance.
