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The Boy Wonder, who Torched Michael Jordan while Trash Talking, Probably Learned from the Best as MJ Teased “Jordanitis”

Published 08/27/2022, 12:30 PM EDT

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There have been many players in history who have received trash talking from Michael Jordan. When Michael was at the peak of his career there were very few on level with him. But even when nobody knew how good Michael was, he was not someone who would not compliment someone that easily. MJ always had an aura of arrogance and self belief that nobody really had shown before. When he stepped into the limelight, he was automatically the star. Michael Jordan always fueled himself with his arrogance and desire to become the best ever. And it showed in how he used to play his game.

So when Michael trash talked someone, he always backed it up with unreal performances. One rookie to be, who got first hand experience of MJ trash talking someone, was Rex Chapman. Rex Chapman was a high school phenomenon in Kentucky. He won numerous awards during that time. In two seasons at the University of Kentucky, he won further accolades and ended up scoring more than 1,000 points. So when Michael became friends with Rex Chapman during a pick up game Rex got to see the side of Michael which everyone feared. Lucky for him he was on MJ’s side at the time.

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“He’s got Jordanitis!” Michael Jordan’s three words were enough to hit someone’s confidence. MJ teased a former North Carolina star who was sitting out the pickup game in which MJ was playing. It sounded like a disease or probably it meant “the fear of facing Jordan”. Rex Chapman was on Michael’s team in that game and experienced first hand how it was when Michael trash talked and played the opponent with just one objective in his mind — to win! Moreover, this was probably where Rex first learned to trash talk and he then used it on Michael Jordan to “cook” him!

When Rex Chapman trash talked AND cooked Michael Jordan!

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Michael and Rex became friends after the pick up. The Charlotte Hornets drafted Rex as their 8th overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft. He was nicknamed “The Wonder Boy”. However, his best days as a player came when he was in the Miami Heat. And one of those days was probably the best day of his playing career.

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On February 23rd 1996, Rex and Miami Heat faced off the infamous Chicago Bulls team which is still regarded to be one of the best NBA teams to ever play together. MJ guarded Rex in the first half and Rex totally torched him with 24 points. At one point in the first quarter Rex had as many points as the whole Bulls team. 

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Now Rex did not say much when they had a coming of sorts during the game. But Rex did say that he could not just let MJ dunk. With obviously more than that, this was generally more than enough for MJ to fuel up and return the favor but that one day was Rex Chapman’s.

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Written by:

Chaitanya Sharma

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Chaitanya is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his engineering from SRM University. Having determined an interest in football and basketball, he was inclined towards having a job in the sports industry.
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