In 2011, Kemba Walker was a polarizing draft prospect. He’d just finished a sparkling career at UConn, averaging 26.7 points per game as a junior, and scored a record 130 points in five games on his way to being named MVP of the Big East Tournament. But Walker was undersized, averaged under four assists per game in his final season as a Husky and was a fairly inefficient scorer. As the 2011 NBA Draft approached, no one had any idea how high Walker would be picked.
Eventually, Michael Jordan, owner of the then-Charlotte Bobcats, took a strong liking to Walker, and selected him no. 9 overall. But not before smack talking Walker at his own draft workout.
How many NBA owners talk trash to their franchise players during practice?
Kemba Walker tells the story behind his first interaction with Michael Jordan: https://t.co/nE5ujZI04i pic.twitter.com/3pTKS3uUfL
— SI's Faces in the Crowd (@Faces_SI) February 14, 2019
“He was just sitting on the side,” Walker told Sports Illustrated of his first interaction with Jordan. “It was a really fun workout. All I remember is he was just talking trash, which he usually does a lot. He was talking trash on the sideline.”
Walker remembers being asked to ball a basketball that was sitting on the ground, and just before doing so, hearing Jordan’s voice booming from the sideline.
“Man, get out of here, you can’t palm the ball!” Walker remembers Jordan saying.
“I’m like, ‘You right!’ I didn’t even try. I was like ‘You right, I can’t palm it,'” Walker said in response.
The two have had a fruitful partnership, with Walker blossoming into one of the best point guards in the game for the Hornets. But only Jordan would talk trash to the player he was about to make the face of his franchise.
