Horace Grant is still angry about what Michael Jordan said of him in "The Last Dance."
In Episode 6 of the ESPN documentary, Jordan claimed Grant was the informant for the infamous 1992 book "The Jordan Rules," written by reporter Sam Smith. Grant denied those claims in the same episode, and former teammate B.J. Armstrong later said there was no way Smith could have written an entire book off one person's claims.
Apparently, Grant's initial rebuttal wasn't strong enough — he doubled down on Tuesday when he joined ESPN Chicago 1000's "Kap and Co.," claiming Jordan tried to destroy the character of anyone against whom he held a grudge. Grant was Jordan's teammate from 1987-93 and then joined the Magic in 1994, beating Jordan and the Bulls 4-2 in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals.
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"Why would MJ just point me out? OK? It's only a grudge, man. I'm telling you, it was only a grudge. And I think he proved that during this so-called documentary, when ... if you say something about him, he's going to cut you off. He's going to try to destroy your character,'" Grant said.
"My point is, that he says I was the snitch. But yet and still after 35 years, he brings up his rookie year, going into one of his teammates' room and seeing coke and weed and women. My point is, why the hell did he want to bring that up? What's that got to do with anything? I mean, if you want to call somebody a snitch, that's a damn snitch right there."
Michael Jordan said in the Last Dance documentary that Horace Grant was the leak in the “Jordan Rules” book.
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) May 19, 2020
Horace went on ESPN 1000’s Kap and Company and had this to say about it.
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Grant makes several good points during the brief clip, saying Smith, an investigative reporter, would need more than one source to write his book. He also backed up his claims of Jordan's grudges by pointing out the ruined relationship he has with Charles Barkley. And Jordan's "cocaine circus" comments — which also rubbed former teammate Craig Hodges the wrong way — only further his argument.
As has been pointed out by Sporting News' Jordan Greer, one of the faults of "The Last Dance" is Jordan's heavy editorial influence on the documentary. There's no way he would allow everything the film crew captured to air on ESPN; he was notably reticent for years to allow any of it to air, as he feared it would affect the image he had crafted of himself. While it's true the documentary touched on some of the more unpolished aspects of his character, it's also clear that Jordan had influence over all of it.
In that vein, it makes sense he would try to spin any story to view him in a positive light — and for him to get back at all those perceived slights all over again.
Possibly, even, by former teammates.
