The Last Dance documentary is still making waves and one scene, in particular, stayed in many’s subconscious. During Michael Jordan’s rookie year, his teammates were a part of a virtual “traveling cocaine circus”.
The game’s greatest player confirmed that during his 1984-85 rookie year he caught his Chicago teammates having an intense hotel party. Replete with narcotics, weed, and women, Jordan was turned off of the shenanigans out in Peoria, Illinois.
Jordan made the revelation during his sit-down interview for the documentary.
“I walk in, and practically the whole team is in there,” said Jordan. “It was things I had never seen in my life as a young kid. You got your lines over here, you got your weed smokers over here, you got your women over here.”
Jordan was an athletic phenom that spent the previous three years at the University of North Carolina. He was a comfortable loner and he was focused on excellence when he entered the new team.
“The first thing I said is, ‘I’m out,'” Jordan said. “Because all I can think about is if they come raid this place right now, I am just as guilty as everyone else in this room. From that point on, I was more or less on my own.”
Jordan’s former early Bulls teammate, Rod Higgins, confirmed MJ never partied his rookie year. In fact, Jordan didn’t even drink with his teammates during his first year.
“Whatever somebody else might have been doing off the court, if it was partying or whatever, that wasn’t part of what he wanted to do,” Higgins said. “Orange juice and 7-Up was his go-to.”
Jordan went on to change the face of basketball globally and won six NBA championships. We should all aspire to be like Mike.
