Michael Jordan Was Bamboozled By T-Wolves Fan With Mom Hoax


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Michael Jordan once had to deal with a prank caller who said his mom was in the hospital.

Michael Jordan has been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary. The docuseries is a look inside of the mind of MJ as he took on one of the biggest challenges of his career during the 1997-98 season. His Chicago Bulls were going through plenty of trials and tribulations during that season and they are all on full display in this brand new TV series.

According to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com, there was one story from the documentary that was left out for TV audiences. The story in question was actually quite sinister and involved a malicious Minnesota Timberwolves fan. As the story goes, the Bulls were beating the T-Wolves at halftime when a fan called the Target Center claiming to be Jordan’s brother. The man lied and said MJ’s mother was in the hospital. When Jordan was alerted of this, he spent minutes trying to contact his family and missed parts of the third quarter. Of course, he quickly found out it was all a hoax.

Michael Jordan

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By the time he came back into the game, he was so shaken up that he couldn’t hit a shot and the Timberwolves eventually stole the game. It was a pretty awful prank to pull especially on a player that had lost his father just years prior.

In the end, things worked out for Jordan that season as the Bulls eventually won the championship. So much for the prank caller.

[Via]


Michael Jordan once had to deal with a prank caller who said his mom was in the hospital.

Michael Jordan has been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary. The docuseries is a look inside of the mind of MJ as he took on one of the biggest challenges of his career during the 1997-98 season. His Chicago Bulls were going through plenty of trials and tribulations during that season and they are all on full display in this brand new TV series.

According to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com, there was one story from the documentary that was left out for TV audiences. The story in question was actually quite sinister and involved a malicious Minnesota Timberwolves fan. As the story goes, the Bulls were beating the T-Wolves at halftime when a fan called the Target Center claiming to be Jordan’s brother. The man lied and said MJ’s mother was in the hospital. When Jordan was alerted of this, he spent minutes trying to contact his family and missed parts of the third quarter. Of course, he quickly found out it was all a hoax.

Michael Jordan

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

By the time he came back into the game, he was so shaken up that he couldn’t hit a shot and the Timberwolves eventually stole the game. It was a pretty awful prank to pull especially on a player that had lost his father just years prior.

In the end, things worked out for Jordan that season as the Bulls eventually won the championship. So much for the prank caller.

[Via]