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Last night, I was dozing through a YouTube how-to on escaping from a vehicle submerged in water when a flurry of message notifications startled me.
“MICHAEL JORDAN SAYS STEPH CURRY ISN’T A HALL OF FAMER” was the headline of several messages blowing up my phone. Huh??
My social feed was already crammed with reactions, and then reactions to the reactions. Tweets like:
MJ really said Curry not a HOFer yet ♂️
— Wheezeman (@TheWestSamurai) October 22, 2019
According to Michael Jordan, Steph Curry is still not a Hall of Famer.
— Dave Sheridan (@ToughDSheridan) October 22, 2019
Curry is 2-time & back-to-back MVP, 6-time NBA All-Star, 3-time NBA champ, scoring champ, & 3rd all-time in made 3s.
Based on MJ's performance with Charlotte, he is not a Hall of Fame evaluator of talent. pic.twitter.com/3bkJgZN9UU
3 rings 2 mvps 6 nba Allstars 6 all nba team selections All rookie 1st team and the best shooter ever ! Don’t listen to this nonsense you guys ! ♂️ And I would never say Jordan talking nonsense but OG was high when he said this https://t.co/JNhQx2LhFB
— Famouslos32 (@famouslos32) October 22, 2019
The impact was heavy. These were words from Michael Jeffrey Jordan: the most famous basketball player ever, the gold standard by which all current players are judged, lead actor of Space Jam, the man who punched Curry’s head coach in the face, the man who currently employs Steph’s dad Dell as an announcer for the Charlotte Hornets.
Jordan and the Curry family are both from North Carolina; was Jordan shutting down all talk of Curry’s legacy?!
As I swiped through the social hubbub, I heard the narrator in the survival video caution, “You’ll only have a moment to escape the car before it sinks completely under”.
That’s when I found the original clip.
Here is the full clip. Jordan is asked to pick 4 players to ball with. He picks 4 Hall of Famers he trusts. He then says Steph Curry shouldn’t be offended by not being picked cause he’s still a great player. He then states a fact “he’s not a hall of famer yet” pic.twitter.com/RmgxUUJxv4
— Joël (@WeAreJoel) October 22, 2019
Well, well, well. Jordan was asked who he personally would want to hoop with, and he responded by naming four personal friends and current Hall-of-Famers.
That’s all.
I chuckled when I realized how many people around the globe had leapt into arguments, digging up basketball-reference box scores, fighting for and against Curry’s legacy. Did no one stop and consider that Jordan is an active owner for the Hornets, a team that Curry comes and torches every year? Why would MJ want to give Curry any extra credit? And wouldn’t that be considering tampering? LOL
Everyone relax. We know Steph Curry is a future Hall of Famer...Michael Jordan couldn’t say it because he would get fined by the league.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 22, 2019
I glanced back up at the YouTube video to see the crudely drawn infographic of a woman rising out of the water, fleeing her sunken vehicle. The way headlines get taken out of context and spun back through social media can leave any of us in danger of being trapped in misguided or flat out wrong takes.
Also, I can’t wait until Curry drops 40 on Charlotte this season.