Oct 10, 2025 9:09 AM EDT
Michael Jordan always took things personally, and Eddie Johnson and Tom Chambers learned that the hard way.
Johnson recalled a time when a young Jordan, barely four seasons into his NBA career, showed the Phoenix Suns why he was something special. In typical Jordan fashion, it involved some form of gambling and a one-of-a-kind show on the basketball floor — in a preseason game.
“Jordan stands up in the room and says, ‘You tell that boy Dan Majerle, I got something for him tonight,” Johnson said on PHNX Sports. “I stood up, I could hardly walk. We have played the night before, traveled that day; I was stiff as a board… He looked at Tom and I, he said, ‘I’ll give your boy 40.’”
“Yeah, okay. (Jordan said,) ‘Bet a hundred. Better yet, bet $200.’ I took the bet; Tom took the bet. So he starts the game, and he started going nuts,” Johnson added with a slight chuckle.
MJ came to collect
As Johnson remembered, this was Dan Majerle’s rookie season, meaning that it was a 1988 preseason game. Jordan habitually insisted on playing in exhibition games, primarily for fans who may not have the means to attend regular-season games.
That said, he had an incentive to play much harder in this particular meaningless contest. He would never allow anyone to hold an edge over him, and $400 was no chump change. (Factoring inflation, 400 bucks is worth around $1,095 today.)
“When he had 34, he walks over to the bench. He catches the ball and he looks at Tom and was like, ‘Get that money ready.’ Dan’s guarding him. He reverse pivots on him, so Dan’s got to back up. And he backed up, he went right and just started tearing the rim, tongue wagging, and holding up 400,” Johnson continued, doing the number four sign in both hands to demonstrate what MJ did.
As if rubbing salt into the wound, the Chicago Bulls icon told Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons that Johnson and Chambers had been playing cards with him all day, suggesting they’d sat out the game for that reason.
While Fitzsimmons did not seem to mind at that moment, Jordan did.
“He dunked for the 40 on everybody and ran past me and said, ‘I want my money,’ checked himself out of the game,” concluded the 1989 Sixth Man of the Year.
It was never just a game
Jordan was still not the champion he would become later in his career, but he came off a Most Valuable Player-Defensive Player of the Year season. At 25, he was at the peak of his physical powers, and it shone through in the confidence he had when making those bets.
Moments like this may seem trivial, but there is a reason why Johnson still remembers the details in an otherwise casual contest almost four decades ago. Even at the highest level, it’s rare to find someone with that competitive streak.
It was vintage Jordan: find motivation, raise the stakes, then deliver on cue. For him, dominance was a way of life he never planned on abandoning.
About the author
NBA Writer at Basketball Network
Jan covers pretty much all things basketball, especially fascinating anecdotes that help him take glorious trips down memory lane. He goes beyond stats, uncovering tone, mindset, and stories that reveal the true pulse of the game.