As one of Michael Jordan’s closest friends in basketball, Patrick Ewing knew that the superstar was thinking about retirement long before word leaked out earlier this week. The only problem was, when Jordan told Ewing, he didn’t think his pal was being serious.
“It’s funny, he told me he was going to retire,” Ewing said, “and I didn’t believe it.”
Publicly, Ewing has said he would have wanted Jordan to stay in the league so that he could beat him on his way to his elusive first championship, if that ever comes.
The on-court rivalry between the two players goes back to college, where Jordan’s 1982 North Carolina Tar Heels beat Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas in the NCAA championship game, and continued on through long careers in the NBA where Ewing was unable to beat Jordan in five playoff series. Now, unless Jordan changes his mind and comes back, he will never get the chance.
“I guess it was time to pack it in,” Ewing said.