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“Why not?” — Horace Grant on the NBA’s decision to name the MVP award after Michael Jordan
Chicago Bulls legend Horace Grant was thrilled to hear that the NBA will name the MVP award after Michael Jordan, who many consider the greatest basketball player of all time. On December 13th, the NBA announced that the MVP award will be renamed the Michael Jordan Trophy. Jordan won the award five times during his legendary career and became a global icon.
Grant's point of view
Mirror Sport asked Grant about the league’s decision and what it was like to play alongside Jordan.
“Deserved,” Grant said. “Deserved. I mean, when you have a guy who brought such greatness to the NBA and won five MVPs, six NBA championships - why not?”
The Jordan Trophy stands at 23.6 inches tall and weighs 23.6 pounds to honor Jordan’s iconic jersey number 23 and the six NBA championships he won. The trophy has a five-sided base representing Jordan’s five NBA MVP awards.
What it was like to play with Jordan
The Bulls selected Grant with the 10th pick in the 1987 NBA Draft. Fellow Bulls legend Scottie Pippen was the fourth overall pick from the SuperSonics that year, but they traded him, and a 1988 or 1989 pick swap to the Bulls for Olden Polynice and 1988 or 1989 draft pick options.
Grant averaged 7.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 22.6 minutes over 81 games (six starts) as a rookie. Jordan had won the Rookie of the Year award and led the league in scoring the season before Grant and Pippen’s arrival. Grant described what it was like to meet Jordan and play with him.
“It was definitely a combination of both being in awe of who [Jordan] already was at that time, and trying to grind towards what we felt we could become as a team,” Grant explained. “I saw what he had accomplished in his first three seasons before Scottie [Pippen] and I had got there - it was like, ‘wow’.
"When Phil Jackson came on board as head coach, he kind of settled us down in terms of being in awe and helping Michael to ensure we were the best teammates we could possibly be.”
