Michael Jordan Says Steve Kerr 'Earned My Respect' with Fight at Bulls Practice

Steve Kerr won five championships as a player and has three championships as a head coach, and he surely earned plenty of respect from a number of different people along the way.

Michael Jordan may be the only person's respect he earned with a fight.

Sunday's episodes of The Last Dance detailed some of Jordan's legendary intensity at practice that often wore on teammates, and Kerr was not immune. In fact, there was one time No. 23 punched him right in the eye and was subsequently ejected from practice by head coach Phil Jackson.

The sequence was as follows:

• Jackson matches up Jordan and Kerr against each other in practice
• Jackson calls a number of fouls on Jordan
• Jordan grows frustrated and unleashes a particularly hard foul on Kerr, exclaiming "Now that's a f--king foul"
• Kerr pushes Jordan in the chest
• Jordan punches Kerr "right in the f--king eye"
• Jordan is ejected from practice

Jordan said during Sunday's episodes that Kerr earned his respect in those moments even though he felt bad about what he did:

"I'm in the shower and I'm saying, look, I just beat up the littlest guy on the f--king court. And I felt about this small. So I get in the car, I called back to the Berto Center and I said, 'Please give me Steve Kerr's number.' I call Steve and I apologize. 'Hey, look, man, it had nothing to do with you.' You know, I feel bad.

"He earned my respect, you know, because he wasn't willing to back down to be a pawn in this whole process."

Kerr parlayed that respect into a key role on the second Bulls' three-peat teams and will forever be remembered in Chicago history because of it.