The Chicago Bulls won the 1991 NBA championship over the Los Angeles Lakers for their first title in franchise history.
The Bulls visited the White House after winning the title and met with President George H. W. Bush.
However, Michael Jordan didn’t show. According to NBA reporter David Aldridge, Jordan was gambling with Slim Bouler.
“So the Bulls win in ’91,” Aldridge said in The Last Dance doc. “They win the championship. You go to the White House when you win the championship. Except Jordan didn’t show. He said, ‘Time with family. I gotta be…’ No, he was out gambling with Slim Bouler.”
Bouler was a golf hustler, and in December 1991, he was indicted on drug and money laundering charges. Federal agents found a check made out from Jordan to Bouler for $57,000.
Jordan was a witness in the Bouler case and the NBA legend admitted in court that he was repaying Bouler a gambling debt.
During the 1993 NBA playoffs, Richard Esquinas — a one-time general manager of the San Diego Sports Arena — wrote in his book that Jordan owed him more than $1.2 million in gambling debt.
While playing for the Bulls, Jordan gambled on golf matches and card games.
“Richard Esquinas, we met from a third party,” Jordan said in The Last Dance. “I’m actually playing golf with people all the time now. And if they wanna gamble, we gamble. The character of those individuals, I find out later what kind of people I was playing with, I learned that lesson.
“But the act of gambling, I didn’t do anything wrong. … I never bet on games. I only bet on myself and that was golf. Do I like to play blackjack? Yeah, I like playing blackjack. There’s no laws with that.
“And the league did call me and they asked questions about it and I told them exactly what was happening.”
Will Perdue, who won three NBA championships with Jordan, said in Episode 6 of “The Last Dance” that Jordan’s life was just one big competition. Perdue, who was once punched in the face by Jordan, talked about Jordan’s storied competitive spirit in card games.
“Scottie [Pippen], Michael, Ron Harper would play cards in the back of the plane for major money,” Perdue said. “I’m talking thousands of dollars. And me, John Paxson, B.J. Armstrong would play blackjack in the front of the plane for a dollar a hand. He knows that we would never play with him in the back ’cause it’s just too much money, but he would come up to the front, he’s like, ‘What are you guys doing? You mind if I play?’
“I remember John Paxson looking at him and going, ‘Why in the hell do you want to play with us? We’re playing for a dollar a hand.’ I remember he looked at him and goes, ‘Because I wanna say I got your money in my pocket.’”
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