Rip Hamilton made an appearance on ESPN's The Jump this week and relived some of his early playing days in the NBA with the Washington Wizards, which included some time as a teammate of Michael Jordan in his twilight years.
As a rookie, Hamilton said he would routinely asked MJ about joining the well-established Jordan Brand, and although he would one day get that opportunity to rep for the Jumpman, it wasn't always a sure thing.
In fact, MJ didn't even want Rip or any of the other guys lacing up his sneakers unless they were All-Stars.
Rip recalled;
"But there was also the other side, where there was the talking trash Michael Jordan and at times, me and a couple of the young guys would come up to him and say, ‘hey Mike, why don’t you think about putting us in Brand Jordan Collection?’ And he would look at me and say, ‘hey Rip, my sneakers for All-Stars’ and at that time I’m like ‘wow, really?’"
Of course, Rip eventually went on to win a title with the Pistons, made three All-Star teams, signed with Jordan Brand and is still flooded with boxes of the latest Air Jordans to this day.
