Five-year-old Jalen Brunson once said “no” to a Michael Jordan autograph: “You’ll ruin the jersey!”

“During the pandemic, when Jordan went 30-for-30 from the field, I had a task: How do young players today know who Michael Jordan is? I talked to Rick Brunson, Rick Brunson Tell me this story about Jalen Brunson – Jalen confirmed this – when Jalen used to go to his dad’s games, he always wore that team’s jersey. Rick Brunson Sen has played for many teams, but at this time, he was playing for the Wizards. So he bought a Michael Jordan jersey, a brand new white jersey with No. 23.

Rick Brunson led him into the locker room. He was introduced to Patrick Ewing, who said, “Hey, do you want Michael Jordan to sign this jersey?” Michael came up and said, “Do you want me to sign the jersey?” Jalen Brunson didn’t know who Michael Jordan was and he said, “No, you’re going to ruin the jersey.” Obviously he still regrets it to this day, but yeah, he turned down the GOAT and Say, ‘I don’t want you to ruin this jersey. ‘”

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Youngmisuk had to tell the story soon, but fans are glad he did. Brunson was born in 1996, so he couldn’t even speak the first words during Jordan’s final three-peat.

That said, there is a slight problem with this anecdote. Jaren’s father, Rick, never played for the Wizards, so this is definitely a game against the Wizards. Jordan returned with the Wizards in the 2001-02 season and Rick played for the Portland Trail Blazers.

“He doesn’t know who he’s talking to,” Rick Brunson said of his son Jalen, who now plays for the New York Knicks. “He said, ‘No, you can’t sign this.’

“Basically, he looked at (Jordan) like, ‘Who the hell are you?'”