We all know how much of a psychotic competitor Michael Jordan was.
No one was safe, including his teammates, and Steve Kerr learned that the hard way.
Back at Bulls training camp in 1995-96, Kerr got into a scuffle with Jordan and came away from it with a black eye.
It was the original Bulls practice fight, before Bobbie Portis vs Nikola Mirotic starred in the sequel 20-odd years later.
While you might think that scuffle would lead to tension between the two, Kerr believes the fight actually helped his relationship with Jordan.
Here’s Kerr telling the story to TNT’s Ernie Johnson:
“I feel like I passed the test and he trusted me more afterwards.”@SteveKerr discusses how a practice altercation with MJ helped grow their relationship on #NBATogether pic.twitter.com/yUwghEt513
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 23, 2020
This follows Kerr saying the fight resulted in a “totally different relationship” between the two players.
Jordan was testing him and when Kerr fought back he earned the respect of MJ, a man who only wanted to go into battle with other cold-blooded killers.
The former Arizona guard would go onto come up clutch during the 1996-97 postseason.
Stay tuned for all this and more in future episodes of The Last Dance.