Widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time, former Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan used to strike fear in his defenders during his legendary career in the NBA.
But for former Houston Rockets guard Vernon Maxwell, there’s one contemporary that he feared more than Jordan – Drazen Petrovic.
Maxwell feared guarding Petrovic more than Michael Jordan
“He gave me nightmares,” Maxwell admitted while guesting on the “All the Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson (h/t Eurohoops).
““He was bigger than me. I’m 6’4. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it before… I’d rather guard Black Jesus, Michael Jordan, than guard him,” continued Maxwell, who finished his NBA career with 10,912 points, 2,200 rebounds and 2,912 assists in 855 regular season games in th league.
“That’s how bad it was for me. He used to give me buckets. I was so frustrated—I couldn’t stop him.”
“I’d rather guard Black Jesus than that MF.”
Dražen Petrović used to give Mad Max nightmares 😂
ALL THE SMOKE with @VernonMaxwell11 is available on YouTube! pic.twitter.com/5UZSwvY1Y7
— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) March 4, 2025
Petrovic was a certified bucket during his time in the NBA, especially in his last two seasons in the league with the New Jersey Nets.
He had career averages of 15.5 points on 50.6 percent shooting from the field in four seasons in the NBA, but in his final two campaigns, he put up 21.4 points per game while making 51.2 percent of his attempts from the floor and 44.6 percent of his tries from behind the arc.
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