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Furious at Ex-NBA Star Over 1 Reason, Ruthless Michael Jordan Once Drove 46YO Veteran Out of Team

Published 10/11/2023, 2:01 PM EDT

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Michael Jordan‘s competitiveness is known by everyone. Even after retiring from the NBA for a second time, he was still hanging around the game as he joined the Washington Wizards front office. His time on the Wizards is not often looked at as one of his best works. That is because he did not do a good job with the team.

Even with his basketball prowess, managing a team was not something he was good at. During his short stint with the Wizards, Jordan once traded a player from the team after he made Jordan mad during practice.

Michael Jordan should not have heard this from a young player

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During an episode of the ALL THE SMOKE podcast, the special guest joining Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes was Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton. Hamilton was drafted by the Washington Wizards in 1999. Another rookie who joined the Wizards in the 1999 draft was Laron Profit. Both being rookies, Hamilton and Profit became close to each other. Jordan was the general manager of the Washington Wizards in 2000.

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Hamilton said that Jordan, being the person he is, used to come down on the court and practice with the players when he could. So when MJ played with them, Hamilton revealed that he and Profit used to talk trash to Jordan at times just for fun. But Profit once took it a little too far, which led to his downfall.

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Hamilton said, “I remember one time, we were playing in practice, and Prof might’ve hit a shot on MJ, and he was running down court, ‘Yeah, you can’t guard me with them old a** knees“.

Hamilton realized quickly that Profit messed up by saying that. It is Michael Jordan. One of the greatest basketball players ever. You can never tell him that he can’t guard you when you are averaging 4 points in the league.

 

Jordan was not at all happy after hearing that. Profit was soon traded from the team. Later, when Hamilton went for a meeting with Jordan, Jordan let him know that Profit was out of there.

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MJ’s time with the Washington Wizards front office

Michael Jordan was only with the Wizards for four years. Jordan retired from the league for a second time in 1999. Soon after, he attained partial ownership of the Wizards. Jordan was the general manager of the team in 2000.

He worked as the general manager for one year. Then at the age of 38, he joined the team as a player. He played with the team for two years before retiring in 2003. The Wizards were one of the worst teams in the league in 2000. This gave them the first overall pick in 2001. But months after drafting Kwame Brown with the first pick, Jordan announced he was returning to play, which stunted Brown’s development as a player.

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What do you think of Jordan’s work with the Washington Wizards? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by:

Rijin Varghese

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Rijin is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He has been following the NBA for over a decade. He likes to learn about the nuances of sports, understand every player's contribution to a team, and also learn the logic behind player signings and team building.
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Edited by:

Caroline Joseph