Metta World Peace once broke Michael Jordan‘s ribs. As crazy as it sounds, thanks to Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune, this news saw the light of day. When Metta was asked about it on the Run It Back show by Shams Charania, he hesitated to shed more light on this but eventually caved in.

Metta said that it was during a one-on-one game he was playing against MJ. He said that he was 18 or 19 years old when this happened, and he never wanted this story to come out. Metta was at Jordan’s gym with some of the other youngsters at the time, including LeBron James. Metta, to deny the ball to MJ, ended up shoving his elbow into MJ’s ribs.

This incident took a toll on Metta. He said, “When I found I broke [Michael Jordan’s] ribs, I was in the bed for like 2 days…I was sick.”

It is understandable that for any athlete, doing such damage to Jordan will take a toll on them. In the case of Metta, he was scared beyond help and the only thing that could help him out of it was Jordan himself. After some time, MJ decided to call him up and let him know that such things happen in sports so he shouldn’t worry too much about it. He said, “Then Mike called me and was like ‘Hey man, it’s alright, that happens, I want you to keep coming back to the gym.”

This helped Metta come out of the trauma that he was experiencing. The ex-NBA star said that he was so physically strong at the time that he didn’t even realize when such a horrific accident took place, especially involving someone as culturally relevant as Jordan. Everything ended on the right note as MJ decided to jump in to console Metta, despite having his ribs broken by the youngster.

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This incident was followed by a massive public outburst against Metta. Fans were furious over what he had done to their favorite player. To everyone’s surprise, Jordan publicly defended the youngster. Metta would go on to play for the Chicago Bulls. He was drafted by the Bulls as 16th overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft. He spent his first three years in the league in Chicago, playing for the same franchise as his childhood idol.

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