Kwame Brown went on a run of unfiltered truth-telling this week.
While it was his verbal confrontation with the likes of Gilbert Arenas, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that stole most of the headlines, Brown dropped interesting tidbits on other matters as well.
One such tidbit?
Michael Jordan’s motivation for drafting him with the top overall pick in 2001.
“They never drafted me with the intention of me staying a Washington Wizard. I was supposed to be traded,” Brown said.
“MJ was a 39-year-old man. I’m not saying this to bash him, but MJ is from an era where young guys didn’t play. Young guys had to prove themselves and earn the right to play. I was drafted in order to be traded for Elton Brand (so he could) come to the Wizards so MJ could get into the playoffs and compete for a championship.”
As far as Brown is concerned, he was simply the victim of a botched plan.
“MJ is a very shrewd businessman,” Brown continued.
“What company ever bought a product that they had time to look at, examine, check your mind, check your heart, your blood, your family, they know everything about you. What company that knows everything about you then turns around and bashes the product that they put out? That’s because MJ did not get what he wanted.”
Brown’s relationship with Jordan obviously was nothing even remotely close to the latter’s relationship with his prized rookie from this year’s class, LaMelo Ball. Maybe if it was, things might’ve turned out differently.
Jordan has been known to get brutally honest about a lot of issues, so it wouldn’t be particularly shocking if he came out and addressed this whole brouhaha at some point in the foreseeable future.
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