Former Teammate Reveals How Michael Jordan Used to Avoid Fans While Doing Grocery Shopping

Can you scale how famous Michael Jordan was in the 80s and 90s? Well, it’s hard to say. But it’s more clear with what his former teammate, Brad Sellers shared with ‘The Undefeated’. Apparently, MJ was so famous back then that he paid the shopkeepers to be open to avoid eyeing from media and fans.

The man who won three championships in the early 90s and went on to win three more, he surely couldn’t step out of his house. Jordan’s teammate asked him how he used to eat. “You saw MJ doing laundry in the first few episodes and that was him back then, the countryside of him, just living like a regular dude,” Brad told Jerry Bembry, “But he just got bigger and bigger in basketball and to a point where he couldn’t go out. I remember saying to him one day, ‘Hey, M, how do you eat?'”

Michael Jordan called up stores to keep them open

In order to go shopping, Jordan had to actually call the shop so that they keep it open for him. Brad mentioned, “… He told me he would call Jewel-Osco [a grocery chain] about 15 minutes before they closed, and let them know he was coming in. They would stay open later to let him shop.”

At that time, Michael was earning from various sources other than just the match-fee. Even though the Bulls went on to pay him immensely in the late 90s but prior to that, he was making just reasonable money. He wasn’t that highly paid in his initial years in the NBA but definitely became a star to watch. “He wasn’t making no $30 million a year; I’m sure at that time he was making less than a million,” Sellers said. “But it was a lot of money at the time and he made sure that he took care of people.”

Well, that’s true. He wasn’t making a lot. But like many other stars and celebrities, he couldn’t move out of the house because of external disturbance. It must be tough for such eminent personalities to go out for basic requirements. God knows what other tricks were used by the rest.

Read More: When a ruthless Michael Jordan starved his teammate for not playing well