Michael Jordan prepared for his final comeback in 2001 by playing pick up ball at Hoops The Gym in Chicago.
He asked Jamal Crawford, who was coming off his rookie year for the Bulls, to come along to the games with him and be his teammate.
Crawford couldn't refuse such an incredible request from his idol. But what happened after the games was something the youngster should have said no to.
When they were done with the gym, Jordan and a group of "friends and associates" would go to MJ's One Sixtyblue restaurant and shoot dice.
During one of the sessions, Crawford ended up losing at least a hundred grand, but had only a 2K in his pocket.
A few days later, his agent Aaron Goodwin got a call from the "agent" of one of the men he owed money to.
“OK,” Goodwin said, according to the person with intimate knowledge of the game. “What does he owe? Jamal is good for it.” “No, you don’t understand,” the go-between said. “If he doesn’t pay now, these guys will kill Jamal.” “Kill Jamal?!! He’s an NBA player. He gets paid as soon as the season starts. Give me the dude’s number.” The person with knowledge of the game said Goodwin called the man Crawford owed money, set up a payment plan and resolved the issue without incident.You can read the whole account over at The Undefeated.
But the moral of the story is don't ever go gamble with Michael Jordan.