Be Like Mike
These Michael Jordan golf stories from the 1992 'Dream Team' Olympics are the stuff of legend
Andrew D. Bernstein
Life is pretty good for the United States basketball squad at the 2024 Olympics. The Yankees are the favorite to bring home the gold from Paris. Jayson Tatum and Derrick White are reigning NBA champs. Kevin Durant is going for his fourth gold medal. LeBron James became the first basketball player to be an American flag bearer. With all due respect, their Olympic adventures pale in comparison to Michael Jordan’s Barcelona barnstorm.
Jordan, who captured gold for the Americans at the 1984 Olympics as an amateur, was the face of the 1992 “Dream Team,” the first American squad of professionals in the Summer Games. The club has often been described as the greatest team ever assembled, dispatching of their opponents by an average of 44 points.
John W. McDonough
Andrew D. Bernstein
Because of the team’s dominance, the games themselves were not so much competitions as exhibitions, and Dream Team coach Chuck Daly only had one organized practice when the team was in Barcelona. This bestowed an ample amount of free time for the team. A time Jordan used to spend on the golf course.
As detailed in Jack McCallum’s book “Dream Team,” Jordan played golf nearly every single day during the Olympics, including game days. Jordan would often play with Daly and teammate Charles Barkley, with a mix of other players and assistant coaches rotating in his pairings. Two stories from that time stand out above the rest:
- The first was the morning of a game against Puerto Rico. Jordan, Barkley, Daly and David Robinson went out for 18. "So we go play, we play 18," Barkley recalled back in 2020. "Chuck [Daly] says 'OK, that was a great time,' and Michael says, 'nah, I'm going to play another 18.' I'm like Michael, we got a game tonight. He says 'Chuck, I'll be fine, blah blah blah,'”
"So Michael comes back after playing another 18. We're getting ready for the game and Chuck says 'Charles, you got this guy. Scottie [Pippen] you got this guy, and then Michael says, 'Nah, I got him.' It was the point guard from Puerto Rico, and Chuck says, 'well, he's the point guard Michael.' Michael looks at him and says 'I said I got him. I read something he said about me in the newspaper, and I got him.' And the whole room's like, dude you just played 36 holes of golf and you're going to guard the point guard? Michael would not let this little dude dribble. He had played 36 holes and he's talking to the guy the whole time like 'Hey, don't you ever talk about me publicly again. I'm Michael Jordan, don't you ever talk about me.'"
BARCELONA, SPAIN - 1992: Michael Jordan and Chuck Daly of the U.S. Mens Olympic Basketball Team pose for a picture while playing golf during the Summer Olympics.
Andrew D. Bernstein
Andrew D. Bernstein
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- The second was confirmed by Daly and Jordan years later. Essentially, Daly beat Jordan over 18 holes before nightfall. Hours later, around 4 a.m., Daly heard banging at his hotel door. When he went out, Daly discovered Jordan, demanding a rematch at daybreak, which Jordan won. However, the real pain for Daly came the next NBA season, when Jordan was taking on Daly’s team at the time, the New Jersey Nets. Jordan, even by his standards, couldn’t be stopped, forcing Daly to take a timeout early in the game. As his team huddled up, Daly saw Jordan walking by. “Don’t you ever beat me at golf again,” Jordan said.
Despite his time on the course, Jordan still did plenty of work on the hardwood, second only to Barkley in points and third on the team in assists. His presence had a profound effect on the sport: At the 1992 Games, only 13 NBA players were on other countries’ teams, while there are currently 81 players this summer in Paris. However, in our neck of the woods, Jordan’s legacy is using the Olympics to underwrite a personal golf trip, which in itself warrants a medal.