Michael Jordan: NBA legend schooling rookie while retired after trash talk

Michael Jordan is the biggest name in the history of basketball, it’s that simple.

As a top-level sports performer there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. It is a lesson that former NBA star Corey Benjamin learned before his twenty-first birthday.

Benjamin was in his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls, having had a great career in college basketball before being picked up by the Bulls, who had just won another NBA title.

Naturally he was on a high, however his self-belief bordered on cockiness. Benjamin was talking with the great Michael Jordan’s former teammate and friend Randy Brown.

Jordan had recently retired and was deliberately distancing himself from the Bulls to make the future easier for both parties.

Benjamin told Brown that he could beat Jordan easily if they played in a one-on-one game. Brown, naturally informed his teammates of this as well as Jordan himself. There would be a reaction from the great man.

Not long after, in November 1999, Jordan stopped by practice in his training kit. He was ready to show that at 36 he was still a force to be reckoned with.

Jordan, hardly breaking sweat, didn’t take long to get on top and the 6-time NBA champion started to give Benjamin a taste of trash-talk by telling him what he was going to do next.

When Benjamin was attacking Jordan regained possession with the greatest of ease. He looked like a High School coach giving demonstrations to an under 13 squad.

According to Matthew Parris in The Sports Column, after the final shot Jordan sat his opponent down and told him: “Don’t call me out of retirement to do this again.”

“After practice, I’m walking off the court when MJ walks into the gym. He said, ‘I’m about to give you your chance.’ As a