“‘I want the mother*****rs to know that I’m never leaving the court, Imma be the first to stand here and the last’” - Kenny "The Jet" Smith says Michael Jordan is the first guy he met who could back up his trash talk

Michael Jordan was a regular in North Carolina earlier in his NBA career to play pickup games. [Photo: Swarm and Sting]

Michael Jordan’s trash-talking in the NBA is legendary. He would relentlessly get into the minds of opponents and intimidate them. More often than not, it was a tactic that gave him an added advantage.

Former Houston Rockets point guard Kenny Smith was a guest on the "All the Smoke" podcast when he revealed another MJ story. This one happened in a pickup game in North Carolina, where Smith and Jordan played as teammates for a year.

Here’s how the TNT basketball analyst told the story:

“Every time we win and we go get water, I watch Mike, and he’s standing in the middle of center court. I walk up to him and, ‘What you doin?’ He’s like, ‘I want the mother*****rs to know that I’m never leaving the court. Imma be the first to stand here and the last.’"

Smith continued:

"He was the first dude that I met that could back up his trash, like every day. Every day! Always the talker and always backed it up, though.”

North Carolina basketball alumni normally keep their tradition of going back to Chapel Hill to play pickup games with the school’s players.

Jordan had just won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics at that time and finished as the NBA’s Rookie of the Year.

“His Airness,” at this point, wasn’t the polished trash-talker he would become. He was probably still learning from the master himself, iconic Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird, who Jordan would later confirm as the best at trash-talking.

Michael Jordan turns 58 today 🎈🎉

Here he is explaining the art of trash talk while smoking a cigar and swinging a baseball bat 😆

https://t.co/jO1qNOcbCV

Nonetheless, Jordan’s unceasing drive to get better and dominate his opponents was already burning hot. Against some of his former teammates and college players, that competitive edge just never waned.

Michael Jordan destroyed O.J. Mayo in a pickup game for talking trash against him

An already retired Michael Jordan torched high-school superstar O.J. Mayo for talking trash against him. [Photo: YouTube]

Michael Jordan has had numerous basketball camps over the years. One such camp happened early after his retirement, when he met a high school prospect named O.J. Mayo. The former University of Southern California standout had the audacity to talk trash to MJ in front of the other basketball camp participants.

Mayo graduated high school in 2007. Jordan retired from the NBA in 2003.

Here’s the six-time NBA champ detailing the weird incident in an interview:

“So I stopped the camp – sent the kids to bed. We go back to playing, and he starts this whole thing that ‘You can’t guard me. You can’t do this.’ So from that point on, it was a lesson. He never won a game. I posted him up. I did everything.”

“You may be the greatest high school player, but I’m the greatest ever...don’t you ever disrespect the great.”

Major throwback to Michael Jordan humbling O.J. Mayo. https://t.co/vDLTCcZaM3

In pickup games, in college, the Olympics and the NBA, Jordan was one of those players who hardly stayed quiet. The most annoying thing about his trash-talking, as many of his former rivals would later admit, was that he would always back it up.