The most fun aspect of The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part docuseries about Michael Jordan that gave us all something to do in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, was the variety of stories about how insane of a competitor Jordan is, was, and forever will be. My personal favorite was his sheer disgust at Gary Payton’s suggestion that he guarded him well during the 1996 NBA Finals, with the anger he still has about Scottie Pippen having a migraine once coming in a strong second.
Anyway, I say that to say this: We have a new story about what happens when someone gets under Jordan’s skin, and my goodness, is it terrific. Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated shared the story of Makhtar N’Diaye, who played at the University of North Carolina alongside guys like Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter. The short version: N’Diaye thought it’d be fun to pretend he didn’t really know Jordan and say that one of his contemporaries, Hakeem Olajuwon, was the greatest player of all time.
You can probably guess how the rest of this goes, but basically, Jordan threw his workout clothes on and made life very difficult for that young man.
The story ends with Jordan reminding us that he does not forget things, something that got hammered home during The Last Dance but is fun to see in any Jordan story.
