Jalen Green Says Michael Jordan Had Him Remove Adidas Slides at Camp as a Child

No basketball player ever forgets meeting Michael Jordan.

That's especially true for young Houston Rockets star Jalen Green, who was kind of bullied by His Airness during an encounter a few years back.

While appearing on the latest episode of Paul George's Podcast P, Green told the story (around the 1:12:40 mark) of how Jordan, who has a lifetime deal with Nike and his own Air Jordan brand, made Green remove a pair of Adidas slides when he attended one of Jordan's basketball camps in San Diego when he was a teenager.

"I got a crazy story," Green said. "I was young. Like, a kid. I went to Michael Jordan camp in San Diego. I'm walking to practice from the dorm, and I got like high socks on up to my knees, baggy shorts. Like, my swag was terrible. I got Adidas slides on and he just walked over to me and was like, 'You need to take them weak-ass Adidas slides off.' I look[ed] back like, 'What you mean?' [He was] like, 'You need to get some Jordan slides.' I said, 'Give me some.' So he brought me some Jordan slides. ... I'm a little-ass kid, though, and he talking about get rid of them weak-ass slides. ...

"I was hella excited."

With Adidas being a longtime rival for Nike in the sneaker and basketball game, it's no wonder Jordan was particularly thorny about seeing the three stripes at his camp.

Apparently, Green didn't learn his lesson as he ended up signing a shoe deal with Adidas in the lead up to the 2021 NBA draft, where he was the second overall pick.