Chicago Bulls: Reporter Clears the Air on 1 Shocking Michael Jordan Controversy

While many among today’s generation of NBA fans would know Michael Jordan better as a failed executive for the Charlotte Hornets than the Chicago Bulls, they know that he’s one of—if not the best basketball players to walk among us.

While he’s best known for his two outstanding three-peat runs with the Bulls in the nineties, his early years in the Windy City aren’t talked about a lot by basketball fans. While they know of his legendary dunk contests against Dominique Wilkins, his time from 1984 until 1990 was marked with failure.

Jordan’s first All-Star Game is one of the facets of MJ’s legendary career that not many talk about. While the most devoted Jordan fans would know the Freeze Out by heart, the average NBA fan wouldn’t have a clue as to what was happening at the time.

A documentarian recently worked on demystifying the moment, and one former All-Star who was there cleared the air on what happened.

Former All-Star denied freezing Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan out during the 1985 All-Star Game

For those not in the know, the Freeze Out was an incident during the 1985 All-Star Game where multiple All-Stars—reportedly led by Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas—did their best to embarrass the future Hall of Famer in his first of 14 All-Star appearances.

Sam Smith wrote about the incident in a 2003 ESPN piece. He wrote that the All-Stars who wore their uniforms didn’t like Jordan’s decision to wear his sponsors on his clothing during warmups. It was at that point the then-rookie felt everyone was teaming up on him for his antics.

However, one of the players who showed up at that game immediately shot those allegations down in Brandon “Snoop B” Robinson’s The Freeze Out.

Per Sports Illustrated’s Shandel Richardson:

“I don’t know where that rumor came from, but I didn’t see anything like that happen to my knowledge,” former NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson said.

“I thought that they were pretty cordial and cool, you know what I mean?” Richardson said of Jordan and Thomas. “It wasn’t like there was a problem or they had a grudge or something. Now for as far as holding the ball from Michael Jordan, I never seen it.”