Michael Jordan is going after today’s big-money NBA stars.
Michael Jordan doesn’t mince words. Never has. Never will. So when he sat down for a recent NBC interview with Mike Tirico, fans knew sparks might fly. And boy, it happened. Because MJ decided it was the perfect time to go full “basketball grandpa” mode on today’s NBA stars.
The 6-time NBA champion didn’t hold back while questioning how hungry they are.
"I love the game so much, that I would never let someone take the opportunity for me to play the game away from me."
Michael Jordan sits down with Mike Tirico for the latest installment of MJ: Insights To Excellence. pic.twitter.com/EZHE5tyNmt
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) December 3, 2025
In this extract, the basketball icon was asked if he sees any players in the modern game with the same mindset to achieve greatness that he possessed – and his response was a damning one.
‘It’s hard to be hungry when you have, simple as that,’ Jordan said in an apparent reference to NBA stars now being paid big money from a very young age. ‘If you don’t have, you are willing to do whatever to have.
‘My mental approach was go in, do my job and be the best basketball player that I can be, and all the chips and everything outside of that, I had people that were handling that. But basketball court I’m handling it.
‘Now it’s a prerequisite. Everybody has to have a logo.’
After Tirico pointed to him that the current crop of NBA players are following his big money moves, Jordan had this to say.
‘But the thing is, that brand was established based on what I did on the basketball court,’ he responded. ‘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 suggested that players of today are prevented from fulfilling their love of the game due to contracts which forbid them from playing outside of the NBA. In his own career, the Chicago Bulls legend had a clause which allowed him to play whenever he wanted, wherever he wanted.
‘If I was driving with you down the street and I see a basketball game on the side of the road, I can go play in that basketball game. And if I get hurt, my contract is still guaranteed,’ he explained.
‘I loved 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, players probably don’t play [as much]. They get individual attention with their trainer, they can go out and shoot a hundred shots or a thousand shots, [but what] I found to my benefit was, “Go play basketball man. That’s what you did, that’s what you grew up doing man.”‘
According to the NBA legend, despite his money moves, basketball was his top priority throughout his career.
‘It’s really tough for the kids today and most of them do a great job of navigating what you are talking about,’ he added. ‘As long as you understand that this is what you’re going to be remembered for, basketball and your love for basketball should always be pure.
‘I always said we would play this game for free, we did. And now we just so happen to get paid for it. Generationally, I like to think that most of the time people remember Michael Jordan based on what he did on the basketball court and not always the commercials that he did.’
So next time a current NBA star posts about their new sneaker deal or their record-breaking contract, remember MJ’s words: Make basketball your priority.
