Former NBA star Richard Hamilton had dozens of Air Jordan player exclusives throughout his 14-year career, but it wasn’t always that way. Hamilton recently shared a hilarious anecdote about his early attempts to align with Jordan Brand while playing as a rookie with the Washington Wizards alongside basketball icon Michael Jordan.
“There was another side, where it was the talking-trash Michael Jordan,” Hamilton told The Jump. “At times, me and a couple of the young guys would come up to him and say, ‘Hey Mike, why don’t you think about putting us in the Brand Jordan collection?’ And he’ll look at me and say, ‘Hey Rip, my sneaker is for All-Stars.’ “
“At that time, I [was] like, ‘Wow, really?’ ” Hamilton said. He also remembered Jordan bluntly telling another teammate, “Your game is not good enough for my sneakers.”
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Although it sounds like Jordan’s comment was nothing more than a lighthearted jab from the master of trash talk, it seemingly lit a fire under Hamilton, who was later selected for three consecutive All-Star Games from 2006-08.
As for the sneaker deal, Hamilton went on to become one of the leading faces for the brand during the 2000s, with exclusive colorways of models such as the Air Jordan 2, Air Jordan 8, Air Jordan 12 and Air Jordan 23.
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