“It was the basis of my career,” Michael Jordan said.
Michal Jordan’s love of the game was the focus of the latest “MJ: Insights to Excellence” conversation with Mike Tirico, which aired Tuesday as part of NBC’s coverage of the 2025-26 NBA season. Jordan talked about how his passion for the game was the foundation for everything. It was that love that fueled his legendary play, which then led to the off-the-court brand and everything else modern players try to emulate.
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Jordan discussed the rare “love of the game” clause in his contract, something he told Tirico he was very proud of and doesn’t exist in today’s deals (where insurance concerns take precedence).
“If I was driving with you down the street and I see a basketball game on side of the road, I can go play in that basketball game, and if I get hurt, my contract is still guaranteed,” Jordan said. “I love the game so much that I would never let someone take the opportunity for me to play the game away from me, as opposed to now, where you don’t have it.”
Jordan said playing the game was everything to him, and he kept reaching new heights on the court by playing in games every chance he got. He thinks modern players could benefit from more old-school ways.
“They get individual attention with their trainer, to go out and shoot 100 shots or 1,000 shots,” Jordan said. “I found it to my benefit, go play basketball, man. That’s what you did. That’s what you grew up doing. Larry Bird just took a whole summer to work on his left hand, right. He did it by playing basketball.”
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Where did that hunger come from for Jordan, that love of the game? Do today’s younger players have that same fire?
“It’s hard to be hungry when you have. Simple as that,” Jordan said. “I mean, if you don’t have, you are willing to do whatever to have. So my mental approach was, go in, do my job, be the best basketball player I can be, and all the chips and everything outside of that, I had people that [were] handling that. But [on the] basketball court, I’m handling it, right?
“And now it’s like, it’s a prerequisite. Everybody has to have a logo.”
That’s because of Jordan. He was first with all of that — the Jordan brand with its ubiquitous Jumpman logo — and today’s players are trying to emulate him and his success.
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“The thing is, that brand is established based on what I did on the basketball court,” Jordan said. “I didn’t put the brand before I put the work. I put the work first, and then the brand evolved based on the work.”
Jordan also admits he did this in a different time and world, one before we all walked around with a computer in our hands, a world without social media.
“I like to think that, if I was playing today, right? I like to think that no matter what, my game is gonna validate whatever I try to participate in away from the game,” Jordan told Tirico. “It’s really tough for the kids today, and most of them do a great job of navigating what you’re talking about, as you understand that this is always going to be what you remembered for basketball, and your love for basketball should always be pure.
“We would play this game — I’ve always said this — we would play this game for free. We did. And now we just so happen to get paid for it.”
