Stephen A. Smith doesn’t think Michael Jordan will hold back his true thoughts on TV.
At Upfronts last month, NBC announced that Jordan would be a special contributor when it resumes its NBA coverage later this year. Basketball fans have been cautiously optimistic that we will get the version of Jordan from the Last Dance documentary, where he chomped cigars and was ruthless about rivals and critics, as opposed to a politician hesitant to offend his constituents.
Smith appeared on Patrick Bet-David’s PBD Podcast last week and made it sound like Jordan, whom he talks to with some regularity, is ready to speak with candor.
“Let me tell you something about Michael Jordan: He’s going to be brutally honest—I can assure you that,” Smith said. “He’s not going to be somebody who’s going to be passive … The Michael Jordan I know, when talking basketball, he is as candid as it gets. He ain’t trying to hurt nobody’s feelings. He ain’t trying to be insulting—but he’s going to tell you what’s going on.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be passive at all. I really, really don’t, and I’m actually proud of him for doing it because, with the Jordan brand and him being worth over $2 billion, he don’t need this,” Smith continued.
Smith said that he urged Jordan to take on more public commentary, telling him to “stop acting like you have nothing to say about basketball now that you’re retired—you talk about it all the damn time!”
Smith added that Jordan will call him to disagree with things he said on-air, and while he’s not as aggressive about it as Kobe Bryant used to be, he’s “candid.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be shy about saying what he sees—at all,” Smith concluded. “As a matter of fact, if he is, he’s going to have to deal with me because I’m going to be in his ear telling him, ‘You’re getting shy now. That’s what we’re doing? That ain’t the MJ I know!’”
Elsewhere in the segment, Bet-David referenced internet rumors that NBC is paying Jordan $40 million annually. A source tells Front Office Sports that this number, which is about twice what Charles Barkley makes per year from TNT, is inaccurate. NBC declined to comment.
