Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all-time. Many deny that he is the very best but that’s ok, in the end it’s a matter of personal opinion but to me just Kobe Bryant came close.

That said, a few things about Michael Jordan are not known by the general public. MJ supporters might know these facts but let’s go over them in this article.

MJ’s Tongue

Michael Jordan’s iconic “tongue wag” was part of his game and as kids everyone tried to emulate it while playing basketball with friends but few know where it came from, why MJ started doing it. Jordan once revealed that he got the idea from his father. When Jordan was a kid he watched his father stick out his tongue while fixing things around the house and he started doing the same, not sure if intentionally or subconsciously, while playing basketball.

Jordan’s Admiration For Magic Johnson

Despite being fierce rivals on the court, especially in the 1991 NBA Finals, when Jordan led the Bulls to their first NBA Championship, MJ admitted that Lakers legend Magic Johnson was his childhood idol. Jordan was actually nicknamed Magic Jordan when he was growing up. He revealed this in a 1992 issue of Playboy magazine.

“I liked him when I was in high school,” Michael Jordan said. “They used to call me Magic Jordan. My first car had a license plate with Magic Jordan on it. It was a 1976 Grand Prix… There was a little bit of envy because of the way I came into the league. Magic came in with even more flair and even more success. And he should have been even bigger than I was in terms of endorsements and business opportunities. But he wasn’t marketed that way. And I was fortunate to have good people. So there was some envy… During my third year, he invited me out to play in his summer charity game. We ironed out our differences in private in the locker room and we began a relationship.”