New Video of Michael Jordan's 'Most Nervous' Free Throw Emerges After NBC Interview

NBA legend's cool story now has supporting video.
Michael Jordan lines up a rare free throw attempt.
Michael Jordan lines up a rare free throw attempt. / @redapples on X

Michael Jordan helped kick off a new era of the NBA on NBC this week by sitting down for an interview with Mike Tirico. Basketball fans were thrilled to see the legend on camera as his media appearances have been carefully spaced out in recent years and it's rare to get his thoughts on the state of the game—and the state of his game. One of the more interesting things Jordan revealed is that he doesn't play much basketball these days, which led to him sharing a rare exception.

Jordan said that the last time he shot a ball was at a house he rented for last month's Ryder Cup. He revealed that the owner of the home asked him to shoot one free throw during a meet and greet, which included the owner's grandkids.

"When I stepped up to shoot the free throw, that's the most nervous I've been in years," Jordan recalled. "Reason being, those kids heard the stories from the parents about what I did 30 years ago. So their expectation is 30 years prior and I haven't touched a basketball."

Jordan then confirmed that he did, in fact, swish the attempt because what else would anyone expect?

Video of that cool moment has now been shared online and shows that Jordan's one and only attempt was picture perfect.

As far as cool moments go, this is tough to beat. Getting a front-row seat for an increasingly rare Jordan shot—and him delivering like one would expect—is a story to tell forever. Plus, there's evidence. And they only host the Ryder Cup in the United States once every four years so there probably won't be many chances for someone to ask Jordan to shoot a pair of free throws.


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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.