NBA stars usually need to excel on the basketball court to earn sneaker deals. However, in Stephen Jackson‘s case, he got one from Michael Jordan out of pity. On a special crossover episode of the All The Smoke and Knuckleheads podcasts, the former Golden State Warriors star reminisced the hilarious story about how the Chicago Bulls icon handed him an endorsement deal from the Jordan Brand.
Jackson revealed that back in 2009, he was playing in shoes from Protege, a brand founded by his former teammate Al Harrington. The poorly built sneakers would often disintegrate on the court and once left Jackson with a fractured toe. Despite the inconvenience, he continued wearing them and kept a pair handy in the locker room in case they broke apart during a game.
Explaining how the Protege sneakers’ penchant for blowing up led to a shoe deal with the Jordan Brand, Jackson said,
“I get traded to Charlotte where MJ at. I’m playing in them sh*t. I make a move, I come out, and I got my toe hanging out them MFs. I come to the sideline, I’m sending the ballboy to the back to get [another pair]. MJ’s like, ‘Hold up, hold up. What is that? No, no, no. Bring me some J’s.’ He brought me some J’s. He felt so bad for me, dog. The next day I had a Jordan contract in my locker.”
Jackson wore Protege sneakers for three years before a lucky break helped him land a Jordan Brand deal. The six-time NBA champion, who was the Bobcat’s minority owner at the time, had the authority to hand out shoe contracts at will. However, he also had the power to ask players to stop wearing Jordan Brand sneakers if he felt they weren’t worthy.
Frustrated Michael Jordan told Bobcats players to stop wearing Jordans
Midway through the 2009-10 season, Michael Jordan was frustrated with his floundering team, and following a blowout loss, the Hall of Famer had seen enough. He ripped into the players in the locker room, and after a snarky comment from Stephen Jackson, he proceeded to embarrass them the following day in practice. Recalling the incident on The Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Jackson said,
“After the game, he’s just going off on us, like we need to get our s**t together, right? I made some little comment and said, ‘He ain’t saying that. He can’t even practice the next day. [Then MJ rebutted,] ‘Back on that s**t. You think y’all did something… Take my shoes off. That s**t was kind of directed to me and Gerald Wallace ‘coz we the leaders of the team.”
The then-47-year-old Jordan suited up to play against the Bobcats’ starters with the second unit and beat them, before walking off the court. If Jackson and the rest of the starters weren’t embarrassed by the blowout loss the previous night, they certainly were after the loss in practice to Jordan.