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Michael Jordan’s two sons, Marcus and Jeffrey Jordan, both followed in their dad’s footsteps by playing basketball. Marcus and Jeffrey never made it to the NBA, but did play college basketball. The two brothers teamed up at UCF (University of Central Florida) after Jeffrey began his career at Illinois.
“When I was young, it was really tough because people would put me down, and I thought, I’ll never be as good as my dad, but it made me play harder,” Marcus told UCF.edu back in 2010. “Either you like my game or you don’t, but I’m not trying to be my dad. Watching Jeff go through it first really helped.”
Marcus played three seasons for the Knights from 2009 to 2012 averaging 12.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists over his college career. His best season came his sophomore year when he averaged 15.2 points, 3.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds as one of the focal points of UCF’s offense.
After playing three seasons at Illinois, Jeffrey transferred to UCF to play with his younger brother. Jeffrey averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 assists while playing a little more than 11 minutes per game over his college career.
Now that their playing careers are over, Jeffrey and Marcus have taken their competitiveness to the business world. Jeffrey lives in Oregon where he works in digital innovation for Jordan Brand, per Chicago Tribune. Marcus started his own shoe and apparel company called Trophy Room which offers exclusive editions of his father’s signature sneakers.
Here is a look at some of Jeffrey’s highlights.
Marcus Believes The Last Dance Should End the GOAT Debate
It comes as no surprise that Marcus believes his father is the greatest basketball player ever. After watching The Last Dance, Marcus told the Chicago Sun-Times that it should end the G.O.A.T. debate.
“In my opinion, it should end all debates as to who is the greatest of all time,” Marcus noted. “I don’t think what my dad did for the game of basketball could be repeated. So I think case closed. I think that’s the best part about the documentary for me, and then the banter that’s happening after each episode.”
Jeffrey is hoping that the docu-series allows fans to see a different side of his dad.
“That there are some things that come with being the best at what you do,” Jeffrey explained to the Chicago Tribune. “The glory and the rings are front and center. A lot of the other stuff has been glossed over. I also hope it reveals the normalcy. My dad’s inhuman at basketball and (made a) gross amount of money. But he’s human. He has an enormous amount of compassion and empathy for people. He makes mistakes but, like everyone else, does the best he can.”
Marcus Prompted UCF’s Contract With Adidas to Get Canceled
When Marcus committed to UCF, he made one key request that he could wear Jordan shoes even though the school had a contract with Adidas. The school agreed this would be acceptable, but Adidas did not take kindly to this arrangement. Heavy caught up with Marcus at the Microsoft fashion show in Atlanta prior to the 2019 Super Bowl.
“When I was being recruited, obviously UCF was an Adidas school,” Marcus told Heavy. “They promised me as a recruit that I’d be able to wear my Jordan shoes. When I got on campus, the Adidas reps had an issue with it. The school told me that they weren’t going to go back on their word that they told me as a recruit. Long story short, I walked onto the court for my first exhibition game, as soon as I got onto the court, they [Adidas] pulled the contract. … At the end of the year, Nike ended up coming to save the day, and the school transferred into a Nike school. And they’ve been Nike ever since.”
Adidas canceled their contract with UCF but fortunately, Nike came through with a new deal. UCF remains a Nike school to this day, and Marcus played a big role in this happening.
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