“He taught me everything I know about getting in folks’ heads” – Jordan admits he took a page out of Larry Bird’s book when it came to trash talking

Throughout his career, Michael Jordan acknowledged that he learned how to gain a mental edge over opponents from Larry Bird. In a 2021 interview with The Athletic, Jordan commended Bird for his ability to psychologically overpower his direct opposition.

“The best mind-gamer and trash talker of all time is Larry Bird. He gave me all the knowledge I had about entering people’s minds,” he disclosed.

Jordan may be widely regarded as the greatest player ever to live, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t learn from the ones that came before him along the way. It isn’t the first time MJ has admitted to admiring the greats who paved the way for him and stating that he took an aspect of their games and applied it to his own.

Jordan entered the league in ’84, around the time the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird era was at its peak. Everyone saw a new generation with Isiah Thomas, and Michael Jordan was showing potential to take over one day, but they still had much to learn.

Bird’s mental chess was intentional
In this case, it was Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird, who was one of the pioneers who made trash-talking revered in the NBA. During an interview with Sportscenter, Larry Legend admitted it was also a behavior that was taught on the floor.

“I was taught at an early age to try and get all the advantage that you can. It helps me feel better, and it gives me confidence. And I don’t talk as much as I used to because I can’t back it up as I used to. It gets me fired up, and I don’t know if it does anything to the opponent; it fires me up,” he said.

Bird was better in head to head matchups against MJ
In their career, Bird holds a 17-11 win-loss record against MJ. Not many players can boast that they dominated Jordan in head-to-head battles. On the other hand, the 6-time NBA champion scored 40 points six times in those 28 games, which means he might have won the scoring battle but lost because of a team effort.

Bird swept Jordan where it matters most – the six times they met in the postseason. Again, Jordan scored at will, averaging 39.7 points in the playoffs against Bird and the Celtics, but failed to rally his team to win. At that time, MJ was still learning how to win with the Chicago Bulls, and it looks like Larry Bird also shared some wisdom to MJ, which would help him in his career.

Jordan took it to new heights
While MJ remained the student and Bird was the master during the brief moment in the league together, once Bird retired and Jordan grew into unquestionably the best player in the world, His Airness took trash-talking to new heights with his opponents.

There are far too many stories of Jordan mentally murdering his opponents to possibly list here, but MJ’s ability to study Bird’s trash-talking and pair it with an unforgiving will to win was the perfect storm to strike fear into most defenders that tried to slow him down on a night-to-night basis.

Jordan may have been gracious in admitting Bird taught him everything he knew when getting into an opponent’s head, but the majority would agree he retired the best there ever was in that department.