The NBA community knows legend Michael Jordan as a ferocious player, both in terms of his game and his reputation. So, when someone threatens a player like MJ, it is obvious he will show said someone their place.

NBA on ESPN recently shared a teaser of the upcoming episodes from ‘The Last Dance’, which shows us the lengths Jordan went to retain his throne.

When MJ made sure he was the only one in the spotlight

It was Game 1 of the 1992 Championship Finals. The matchup was the Chicago Bulls vs the Portland Trail Blazers. The latter’s best player, Clyde Drexler, was one of Jordan’s rivals for the “best player in the league” title at the time.

Obviously, Michael Jordan was not okay with someone threatening to steal his spot. In the teaser, MJ literally says, “Clyde was a threat. I’m not saying he wasn’t a threat. But me being compared to him, I took offense to that.”

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The video also shows the legendary Magic Johnson chiming in, talking about the night before the game when everyone was playing cards at Jordan’s house. The Bulls player told Johnson, “You know what’s gonna happen tomorrow? I’m gonna give it to this dude.”

The next day, in the matchup, Michael Jordan really gave it to Clyde Drexler. Jordan ended up making 35 points in half a game, a record. Additionally, he made 6 three pointers. Watching Jordan sink basket after basket visibly drained the color from Drexler’s face.

This game of the 1992 Finals became famous as the ‘Shrug Game’. The community bases the name on an iconic MJ moment. After making his sixth and final three pointer of that game, Jordan simply…shrugged. It wasn’t a modest shrug either. It was a shrug full of sass and triumph.

According to David Halberstam, who wrote about Jordan’s obsession with embarrassing Drexler in his book Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made,

“It was intensely personal for him, the perfect challenge for a man who always wanted and always need challenges, and he used all the comparisons with Drexler, all those nonbelievers who thought Drexler as good as he was, to motivate himself. He set out to do nothing less than destroy, not just Portland, but Drexler as well…”

How Michael Jordan made sure he destroyed his enemy

Not surprisingly, Jordan did not give up trying to abuse Drexler even after crushing him in the finals. When the two were on the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics, Jordan continued to trash talk to Drexler and remind him who the boss was. Apparently, he said things like,

“Didn’t I just kick your a**?… Anything here look just a little familiar?… Think you can stop me this time, Clyde?… Better watch out for the threes, Clyde.”

Halberstam also wrote that some of Jordan’s Dream Team colleagues suggested that he cut back on the trash talk with Drexler because they were all teammates. They believed there was no need to reopen wounds still so fresh.

Michael Jordan looked forward to destroying his rivals not only physically, but also mentally. Even though he backed off, Drexler’s mental health remained affected. Halberstam wrote, 

“One day Clyde Drexler showed up at practice with two left sneakers. Unwilling to admit his mistake and borrow a shoe from someone else or go back and get another one, he went out and played with a sneaker on the wrong foot. To Michael Jordan, who always looked for psychological weaknesses in his opponents, that was a sure sign of Drexler’s insecurity.”

For MJ, this incident was a sign of his absolute victory. To the world around him, it was another reason to be afraid of the king and his dynasty.