Who would you choose between Michael Jordan and your idol? NBA veteran Rex Chapman chose the latter. Well, it was years before MJ became the Great Jordan who dominated the league in the 90s. While he was always in awe of MJ’s game and skills, Chapman chose his dream school, the University of Kentucky over Jordan. During his latest appearance in an interview with DJ Vlad, the former shooting guard recalled how despite getting a call from His Airness himself, he didn’t change his decision. That turned out to be great for him. During his two seasons at the University of Kentucky, he won numerous accolades and even amassed a score of more than 1,000 points. 

Chapman recalled mentioning his interest in Jordan during a conversation with North Carolina’s head coach Dean Smith when his staff visited his hometown. And he remembered how after that he got a call from rookie Jordan to convince him to get into North Carolina. In a recent episode on VladTV, Chapman said, “Dean had Michael call me on behalf and tell me how great Dean is and playing at North Carolina there’s nothing like it. It was really cool but I wasn’t going to go to North Carolina.”

He further said, “My dream school my whole life growing up the University of Louisville and they’re very close to Owensboro than Lexington was which is where the University of Kentucky is so I grew up idolizing Daryl Griffith and those teams.” He added, “They (Kentucky) hired Eddie Sutton he had developed some really good guards and at the very last second I went to Kentucky.”

Despite that, he went to the University of Kentucky. Both Chapman and Jordan shared a great relationship thanks to the number of times they have encountered. While he watched the Chicago Bulls legend crush his opponents with his skills and trash-talking, Chapman also tried his own mental games against Jordan on the court.

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Michael Jordan’s iconic match-up against the Miami Heat

After being drafted in 1988, Chapman found an opportunity to torch the Bulls in 1996 when he was playing for the Miami Heat. No one imagined that the Miami Heat would be able to beat the Bulls. However, Chapman managed to notch up 39 points against Jordan. Although the 6x champion was quick in taking revenge. During their game, he effectively defended Chapman and dropped 32 points to lead the team to victory. Jordan didn’t let Chapman score more than 12 points. 

Chapman wasn’t wrong when he said that Jordan can be highly competitive when he wants. During an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, he explained, “Michael could get into a mode at times, where you really were at his mercy and the mercy of his mood.”

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