In his proclamation that he wouldn’t lose going 1-on-1 against the NBA greats of yesterday and today, Michael Jordan told a fantastic story about schooling a young OJ Mayo – who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks – when the guard was a high schooler taking part in Jordan’s California camp.
During some 5-on-5 action, Mayo got a little beside himself talking trash to the Hall of Famer who then took it upon himself to let the youngster know why he’s considered the greatest of all time.
“In front of my camp, he starts this thing of you can’t guard me, you can’t do this … Finally I just said, ‘Look, dude. You may be the best high school player, but I’m the best player in the world,” Jordan said to Mayo who later corroborated MJ’s story in an interview with the Milwaukee Bucks team site.
“Mike was Mike,” said Mayo of the battle with Jordan. “He was jawing a little bit and really getting into me defensively. He was backing me down and said, ‘You better scream for mama.’ Then he hit the famous fadeaway on me and he said, ‘Hey young fella, let me tell you something: you may be the best high school player in the world, but I’m the greatest ever. Don’t you ever disrespect the great like that.’”
It’s truly a fantastic story of, MJ being, well, MJ. Taking on all comers, backing down from no one and ultimately, coming out on top just like he did throughout his 15-year career.
Now video has surfaced of that 1-on-1 battle between Jordan and Mayo. And the great thing about this video is that nobody embellished anything. It went down just like both said it did.
