Michael Jordan didn’t hesitate to name the NBA player who was as good as him but not “as marketable” – NBA

Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time, but there is one former NBA star who he believes could have been on his level.

According to Craig Hodges, a former teammate of Jordan’s on the Chicago Bulls, the legendary number 23 once admitted that Clyde Drexler was just as talented as him, just not as marketable.

Speaking to Vlad TV in 2020, Hodges recalled a conversation with the five-time Most Valuable Player award winner in which Jordan spoke highly of the former Portland Trail Blazers guard.

“Not every great athlete is as marketable, and they have just as much talent,” Hodges said. “I remember once having a conversation. There were four of us, including MJ.

“And then the conversation turned to Clyde Drexler. And MJ said this, and I quote: ‘Clyde Drexler is just as good as me. He just doesn’t know how to play the game.’

“Are you following me? And we’re not talking about basketball here.”

Drexler was selected by the Trail Blazers with the 14th overall pick in the 1983 NBA Draft, a year before Jordan entered the league.

The 6-foot-7-inch shooting guard enjoyed a stellar 15-year career, averaging 20.4 points per game, 5.6 assists and 6.1 rebounds.

A 10-time All-Star, Drexler never won an MVP award and didn’t come close to matching Jordan’s six NBA titles.

However, he eventually won the first and only championship of his career in 1995 while playing for the Houston Rockets – which happened to be when Jordan briefly retired to try his hand at baseball.

In “The Last Dance,” the 2020 Netflix documentary about his career and success with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan dismissed comparisons between himself and “Clyde the Glide.”

“Clyde was a threat,” Jordan said. “I’m not saying he wasn’t a threat, but when I was compared to him I took offense.”