MJ told rookie Hamilton he wasn't good enough to wear Jordans

How good is your game? Probably not good enough to be wearing those Jordans.

On ESPN's The Jump, Rachel Nichols sat down with Richard Hamilton to talk about playing with Michael Jordan, at a time when the G.O.A.T was in the twilight of his career - rather, getting his second wind out of retirement - with the Washington Wizards.

"Michael was fun. He had a unique personality, great to be around," Hamilton said. "When I was on the basketball court at times with him, he was showing me the whole medium-range game - like he would dribble two times, pull up in the middle of the court and say, 'Rip, get that in your game. That's the hardest play in the game of basketball.'"

Sounds alright, but not every day was a lesson. Some days, MJ was just being an old man "talking trash," as Hamilton said.

"At times, me and a couple of the young guys would come up and say, 'Hey Mike, what do you think about putting us in the brand Jordan collection?' And he'd look at me and say, 'Hey Rip, my sneakers (are) for All-Stars.'"

Hamilton eventually did become an All-Star. Three times, in fact, and later went back to Jordan.

"Now I'm an All-Star, now you gotta put me in that sneaker, now you got to pay me the big bucks," he said.

Hamilton eventually signed with the Jordan brand, and even added a pair of game-worn shoes to his own personal collection when he asked MJ for them off of his feet, in a game where Hamilton scored 30 and helped lift the Wizards to a win.