{"id":659411,"date":"2026-05-22T23:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659411\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T23:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:55:08","slug":"patrick-ewing-says-michael-jordan-still-trash-talks-him-he-lets-me-know-every-time-i-see-him-that-i-was-not-able-to-beat-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659411\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Ewing says Michael Jordan still trash talks him: “He let’s me know every time I see him, that I was not able to beat him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the long history of the NBA, there are some friendships that transcend everything that happened on the hardwood. One of those is definitely the one between\u00a0Patrick Ewing<\/a>\u00a0and Michael Jordan, which started long before they even stepped foot on the courts of the best basketball league in the world.<\/p>\n

Considering they were both leaders of some of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference at the time, the two shared countless battles for supremacy during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. And you guessed it, one guy came out on top much more often than the other. And considering Jordan’s knack for trash-talking and always finding a way to throw little jabs here and there, Ewing says Mike still reminds him of that record to this very day.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“Michael and I were friends. We got to meet each other in college before, in high school I should say. We developed a friendship. we stayed friends, still are friends today. But once we get on that floor, as you saw, it wasn’t just about the friendship, we’re both trying to kick each other’s butts,”\u00a0Ewing\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in his recent guest appearance on the “Dan Patrick Show.”<\/p>\n

Pat and Mike have a long history<\/p>\n

Ewing and Jordan’s duels go way back. According to Pat, high school days were the first time he met the man who would later rewrite basketball history forever. Even though Ewing did\u00a0not recognize that kind of greatness that early on<\/a>, it marked the start of a friendship-rivalry dynamic that still continues today.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Then came the legendary 1982 NCAA Final matchup, in which Mike’s North Carolina Tar Heels defeated Pat’s Georgetown Hoyas. From that moment on, the count was officially on. Every game, every matchup between the Chicago Bulls<\/a> and New York Knicks<\/a> during the prime years of both legends carried something personal behind it.<\/p>\n

And even though they were good friends away from the court, they were even better competitors once the lights came on, always trying to prove who really stood at the top of the mountain.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, just like it usually was during Jordan’s era, Mike held the upper hand. Jordan finished with a 62-25 overall record against Ewing in all games combined. What makes it even more painful for Knicks fans is the fact that Pat never managed to beat Jordan in a playoff series when it mattered the most. And according to the Jamaican native, he still hears about that all these years later.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“He let’s me know every time I see him, or I talk to him, that I was not able to beat him.. He is probably the biggest trash talker that I’ve ever been around,”\u00a0the Hall of Fame big man added.<\/p>\n

Related: When Michael Jordan claimed Dennis Rodman overshadowed him in popularity: “My kids were dressed up like Dennis for Halloween”<\/a><\/p>\n

Friends first, rivals second<\/p>\n

Stories about Jordan’s competitiveness are nothing new, but the fact that he still keeps tabs on things like this decades later says everything about the mentality that made him who he was. And no, this was never one of those situations where the two genuinely hated each other, as Jordan did with some of his other rivals throughout his career. This was simply two longtime friends competing at the absolute highest level possible.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, their relationship is probably exactly how true basketball rivalries are supposed to look. Off the court, always ready to crack a joke or throw a jab at one another. But once the game starts, and the lights turn on, both are fully locked in, trying to prove who is better. And apparently, Jordan still believes Ewing needs a reminder every now and then about how those battles usually ended.<\/p>\n

Related: Chris Bosh says his wife helped him move on from the post-NBA depression: “A lot of guys in this league don’t talk to their wives”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the long history of the NBA, there are some friendships that transcend everything that happened on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[7333,7329,32707,133288,7328,355,361,7027,283992,98625,99],"class_list":["post-659411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball-history","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-eastern-conference","tag-georgetown-hoyas","tag-michael-jordan","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","tag-pat-and-mike","tag-patrick-ewing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}