"We had to open the vents on the bus to get the smoke out" - Chicago Bulls equipment manager says Michael Jordan smoked inside the team bus

“We had to open the vents on the bus to get the smoke out” – Chicago Bulls equipment manager says Michael Jordan smoked inside the team bus originally appeared on Basketball Network.

The great Michael Jordan is only addicted to a few things – winning and smoking the finest cigars. As the greatest player on the face of the planet, Jordan was allowed to smoke almost anytime and anywhere he wanted to, including on the Chicago Bulls’ team bus.

According to longtime Bulls equipment manager John Ligmanowski, MJ really made the most out of the perks of being the team’s superstar. Everybody in the Bulls organization was well aware of Jordan’s penchant for smoking cigars and not one of them ever called “His Airness” out for it.

Ligmanowski even revealed that Jordan would fill the team bus with cigar smoke while on the road. Over time, Ligmanowski said they just got used to it.

“On the bus, he always had cigars,” Ligmanowski once said of MJ. “We had to open the vents on the bus to get the smoke out of there. He was the ringleader. We’d be in Canada and he’d come in and hand everybody a Cuban cigar because they were legal there. He always got the best cigars. And he was very generous. Even now when I see him, I try to infiltrate his cigar stash.”

MJ’s friend claimed smoking made him more clutch

Truth be told, it’s unbecoming for any professional athlete to unapologetically smoke cigars. Due to the stigma of smoking, some believed that for all his greatness, Jordan did a terrible job in letting his cigar addiction get the better of him.

However, none of that makes sense for Jordan’s pal and Cigar Aficionado founder Marvin R. Shanken. To MJ’s defense, Shanken argued that the six-time NBA champion smoked cigars, but they never harmed his body 9r mind. If anything, Shanken claims that in its own beautiful way, smoking even made MJ a better player.

“Let’s put it this way: It’s like averaging 45 points a game. There aren’t many people out there that are smoking more. Michael is passionate about his cigars. It’s a joy,” Shanken exclusively told GQ in 2020.

“A lot of people, it does hit them in a certain way. It could alter them. But, you know, you don’t inhale cigar smoke,” Shanken explained. “And obviously, Michael was able to get the benefits from it, which was the relaxation. And maybe in the fourth quarter, when there’s four seconds [left], maybe it was the cigar that helped him get a swish and win the game.”

“I’m gonna credit the cigar! Michael will laugh if he hears it, but I’m gonna say he never would have made those shots, at home anyway, had it not been for the cigar that relaxed him before the game,” he added.

Cigars are part of MJ’s legacy

It’s hard to find any evidence to support the notion that smoking cigars helped improve Jordan’s performance on the court, though they can temporarily enhance focus. However, what could be considered a fact is that smoking cigars has become part of Jordan’s legacy.

Not only did cigars give Jordan some added swag, but they also symbolized his identity as an iconic sports figure. To this day, MJ is seen smoking a lit cigar almost everywhere, whether in a private or public place. And for obvious reasons, it still seems like nobody has ever dared to call him out.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared.

“We had to open the vents on the bus to get the smoke out” – Chicago Bulls equipment manager says Michael Jordan smoked inside the team bus

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