Michael Jordan‘s keenness to win and compete is what made him an extraordinary player in the NBA. Despite being an immediate sensation during his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls in 1984, it took the six-time NBA champ quite some time to win his first NBA championship. However, despite having a less-than-capable team to fight for the championship, Jordan refused to rest and recover in 1986. Notably, Billionaire team owner Jerry Reinsdorf claimed that a not yet fully recovered MJ openly refuted the critical warnings from the doctors just to return back to the court.

The Bulls’ roster lacked championship-winning firepower despite Michael Jordan’s presence at the time. It was until players like Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant, among others joined the Bulls, the Chicago side struggled to get over the hump. As a result, the Bulls owner reportedly shielded MJ by controlling his playing time following an injury. However, Jordan’s will to compete resulted in a rejection of the team owner’s wishes.

Bulls owner didn’t want Michael Jordan to play amidst tanking rumors

A recently resurfaced video from The Jordan Rules on Twitter, featured the Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s 1986 interview during the halftime of a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, where he addressed the tanking rumors. It was the first time after a hiatus that Michael Jordan got to start a game after being sidelined from a foot injury.

Reports suggested a controversy between Jordan and the Bulls owner regarding his playing time situation. There were rumors that Jerry Reinsdorf controlled the minutes Jordan would play based on the doctors’ reports. At the same time, Michael Jordan made his intention to spend more time on the court clear in the media.

To explain his intentions, Reinsdorf stated that it made no sense for Jordan to be ‘playing at all’. In fact, the Bulls owner suggested that the doctors gave a 20% chance of Jordan reinjuring himself if he returned too early. Jerry Reinsdorf added, “I thought it didn’t make any sense. The risk-reward ratio was out of whack because if he hurts himself, his career could be over.”

“Michael just got frustrated and decided that he knew more than the doctors,” he added.

Reinsdorf reckoned that he tried to talk Jordan out of playing without any results. In the end, the Bulls boss ended up making a deal that MJ could play seven minutes a half as a last resort to mitigate the situation. However, he suggested that Michael Jordan got frustrated because of the slow process. Eventually, Jordan got the chance to start a game after claiming that he had recovered fully from his injury.

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Meanwhile, NBA legend Bill Russell also shot the lottery question at point blank toward the Bulls owner during the interview.

Jerry Reinsdorf reacts to tanking rumors

During the 1986 interview, Bill Russell pointed out that Michael Jordan had told the media that the Bulls did not want to win as they were looking to get the lottery pick for next year’s draft. In response, Reinsdorf reckoned that he was very upset by Jordan’s bold statement and had a conversation with the Bulls legend in his office.

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Thus, the tanking rumors hit Jerry Reinsdorf hard as Michael Jordan valiantly denied losing on purpose.