Michael Jordan already established himself as one of the best players in the NBA in his rookie season, showcasing incredible maturity and dominance on both ends of the floor. His unbelievable rookie campaign awarded him with his first All-Star appearance in his rookie (1984/85) season, in which the main goal was to promote his new partnership with Nike and Air Jordan shoes. Given how the game went, seems like other players felt like MJ hadn’t paid his dues.

“They decided to teach him a lesson”

That type of publicity heading into the All-Star game didn’t sit well with the rest of the NBA stars who decided to make Jordan’s debut living hell. According to dr. Charles Tucker, who served as an advisor for Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas, the rest of the NBA stars wanted to ‘freeze out’ Jordan at the main event so he can learn a lesson.

“The guys weren’t happy with his attitude up here. They decided to teach him a lesson. On defense, Magic and George gave him a hard time, and offensively, they just didn’t give him the ball. That’s what they’re laughing about.”

Charles Tucker, via Michael Jordan: The Life

On the other hand, Jordan never wanted to impose his popularity and overshadow other players simply because he had so much respect for them and looked up to a lot of them growing up, especially Julius Erving