Michael Jordan Says He Would Tune Out Bets and Social Media, and That He Does Not Envy Today's NBA Stars

Michael Jordan said he would have played the modern game the same way he played the old one — focused on the opponent and the final score — and that he does not envy stars who now carry social media, betting markets and personal brands into the same night.

He made the comments last week at the SBC Summit in Lisbon, in a conversation with Sportradar's Carsten Koerl and DraftKings' Jason Robins. "I've thought about it," Jordan said. "If I were to play today, what would the game be? It's a totally different game. But I think ultimately, the conclusion that I come to is that I just play the game. I can't worry about what people are betting on. I can't worry about what the stats are. I never worry about the stats. All I care about is the end of the game."

"If we win, I couldn't care less who won the bet, who didn't win the bet," he said. "I know I won the game. Ultimately, that's all that I even focused on." He said athletes now have those pressures "come into play," and that fans want a closer connection. "I remember, actually, you wouldn't know what I did before a game. You wouldn't know what I did after the game. Today, you know all those things." He added that some of that attention is used "to understand what the betting scenario is, or how they're going to set their odds."

His own filter, he said, would still be the matchup. "I would've still focused on my opponent. I would've focused on what my opponent can do, either going left, right, blah, blah, blah. I would've never worried about who's betting on the Bulls, who's not betting on the Bulls, what's the spread, blah, blah, blah." An athlete, he said, "can only influence one thing. It's what I do on the basketball court. Outside of that, we do not control."

Jordan, who won six championships with the Chicago Bulls in two three-year runs in the 1990s, said the added layer is what he would not want. "I think there's a little bit more added pressure when you think about all the things and circumstances surrounding the game. Where it was very simple back when I played. Either win the game or you don't win the game. Today, you've got to build a brand. You've got to worry about what your numbers are in terms of what financial reward you're going to get at the end of your contract."

He said analytics built for a business around the game pull attention off the team. "Whereas today, you've got guys thinking about, well, I've got my brand coming out, my namesake or my logo, and all these other things, and I need to cater to that. That takes away from the team aspect, what the team focus may be. It's a whole different component to this sport world right now, and I don't envy that."

"I'm glad I was born at the time that I was born," he said. "Would I have acted differently? I'm very true to the game, so I don't think I would have changed my perspective about the game. Opportunities may have changed outside the game, but in terms of my true passion for the game of basketball, I don't think that would have changed."

The setting was a betting-industry conference, which is the tension in the remarks. Jordan was speaking to executives from a data firm and a sportsbook about a league in which betting is legal in much of the United States and in which player availability moves a line. His answer was that the line was not his job. The NBA's job, and the leagues' integrity rules, are a separate question he did not take up. He did not say betting should be barred. He said a player cannot control it and should not play to it.

Social media is the other half of the comparison he drew. Twitter, Facebook and Reddit did not exist for the first three-peat. Criticism did. It was not in a player's pocket between possessions. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James have all absorbed public pile-ons after losses that, in Jordan's telling, would once have ended at the buzzer. He did not name them. He described the condition.

The claim is personal, not a scouting report. Jordan did not say he would struggle against Victor Wembanyama or adjust his footwork for a spaced floor. He said the game is different and that his conclusion is to play it. The part he rejected is the scoreboard around the scoreboard: the bet, the stat line, the brand. "All I care about is the end of the game," he said. He also said he is glad that end, for him, came before the rest of it.