Michael Jordan Once Explained How He Kept The 3-Point Shot From Defining His Game

Shandel Richardson | Jun 3, 2024

Anne Ryan-USA TODAY via Imagn Content

Last month Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards made it clear he wanted the Michael Jordan comparisons to stop.

He even said his perimeter game made him different from Jordan.

"I can shoot the 3, so think that makes me a little different than Michael Jordan." Edwards said in an interview with ESPN's Malika Andrews.

Jordan would never consider that an insult because he never wanted the 3-point shot to define his game as he stated in an interview before Game 2 against the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1992 NBA Finals. It was just days after Jordan made six 3-pointers in the first half of the Chicago Bulls' Game 1 victory.

When asked if he wanted to rely more on the 3-point shot, here's what he said:

"Something that I don't want to excel at because it takes away from all phases of my game," Jordan said. "My game is to fake, drive to the hole, penetrate, dish off, dunk or whatever."

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Jordan later proved he could do it over the course of the season when shot 42 percent (111 of 260) from the arc in 1995-96. That just so happened to be the Bulls' most dominating season, with Jordan scoring from all angles.

But he never wanted the label of 3-point shooter.

"When you have that mentality, as I found out in the first game, of making 3s you don't go to the hole as much," Jordan said. "You go to the 3-point line and start sitting, waiting for someone to find you. That's not my mentality. I don't want to create that because it takes away from my other parts of my game."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com