Via sneakerfiles.com

NBA legends Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson are close friends these days but it wasn’t always that smooth. When MJ entered the league, Johnson and the Lakers were a dominant force.

He was one of the brightest stars in the league but Jordan quickly made a name for himself. Talks started how Johnson should have been MJ before there was MJ.

According to the Bulls legend, he thought that Magic was jealous of him and that is why he was hesitant to developing a friendship with the Lakers superstar.

Via Jackie MacMullan of The Ringer:

Two days after the All-Star Game, he torched Isiah and his Pistons for 49 points. And, for the next few years, he resisted Magic’s Cheshire cat grin, choosing to engage in perfunctory hand shakes as opposed to bear hugs or high fives. Truth was, he didn’t trust Magic, and resisted developing a friendship with him.

“Well, I understood it to be jealousy,” Jordan says. “And you know, I think a lot of it came from—Magic Johnson should have been Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan. He had the smile. He had everything. He had the marketability. He had championships.”