Hakeem Olajuwon was one of the few players with a winning head-to-head record against Michael Jordan (13-10). But there was a time when the fierce competitors, part of the same 1984 draft class, could have been teammates. This slight possibility was previously mentioned in the Dream’s autobiography and was once again a point of discussion.

“Is it true that it was a trade that would have sent Clyde [Drexler] to the Rockets for a pick, second pick?” In the latest episode of Boardroom Talks, Kevin Durant discussed the possibility with the Houston Rockets icon.

As per the proposed trade, Houston center Ralph Sampson would have been traded to the Trail Blazers, while Portland would send guard Clyde Drexler to the Rockets along with the No. 2 pick in the 1984 draft. The overall No.1 pick came to Houston thanks to a coin flip, as was the norm before the lottery.

“Oh, I heard that. I heard it afterwards. I didn’t know, but you know. Yeah,” replied Olajuwon. KD couldn’t believe that the Rockets had the chance of assembling Hakeem, MJ, and Clyde Drexler. He said, “Yo, so it would have been you, Jordan, and Clyde. Oh my goodness. That would have been 10-12 championships. Greatest team of all time.”

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In 1969, the coin toss allowed the Bucks to draft Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Later, he came to the Lakers, and the rest is history. Similarly, Hakeem Olajuwon faced a similar crossroads. On the podcast with KD, Hakeem said it was his gut feeling that he would play for the Rockets, and that feeling came true.

In his autobiography, Living the Dream, Olajuwon mentioned that the Rockets could have selected Michael Jordan with the number two pick to play alongside Olajuwon and Drexler if the franchise had gone ahead with the proposed trade.

In the 1984 Draft, Hakeem was the #1 pick. Then, the Trail Blazers infamously chose Sam Bowie from Kentucky with the No. 2 pick. So, the Bulls drafted Michael Jordan at No.3. This would have surely altered the careers and plans of many NBA greats that came after. In fact, at least one of Drexler, Jordan, and Olajuwon was involved in every NBA Finals from 1990 to 1998. Now, imagine the trio together.

That’s why Kevin Durant could envision a double-digit trophy haul for the Rockets during that era. Although Hakeem and MJ were rivals, they also praised each other, since their skill sets always stood out.

Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon always respected each other

Despite having a better regular-season record against MJ, Hakeem described His Airness as a player who was “strong in all areas.” Dream even noted in his 1997 book ‘Living the Dream: My Life and Basketball,’ that the Bulls legend wasn’t perfect, but as far as competition goes, no player could match up with him.

Hakeem wrote, “Whatever you gave him, he would take it. If you backed off, he would shoot, he would make his shot most of the time, and if he missed, it was only because he was human.” Similarly, even MJ put his rival in the highest regard.

“Olajuwon, he was in the top 10 in five categories: steals, rebounds, blocked shots, scoring, and shooting percentage. To have a big guy of his size to be in the top 10 in steals, you would assume that he would be in blocks, which to me showed versatility and what type of guy he really was,” MJ stated.

Surely if they had played together, the dynamics in the league would have changed. Now, add Drexler, a 10-time NBA All-Star, to this mix. It creates another memorable what-if lore in NBA history.