Boston Celtics All-Star point guard Kemba Walker has a special connection with his former boss Michael Jordan, and the ubiquity of the ESPN documentary series on Jordan’s Chicago Bulls sparked some reflection by the UConn product in a short interview conducted for the team.
Drafted out of Connecticut immediately after dragging his Huskies to their third NCAA National Championship, Walker joined the Charlotte Hornets organization as their highest draft pick in the still-new Jordan era of ownership.
Don’t think that reputation he’d earned in his days at UConn made him immune to the sort of pressure His Airness put on his teammates in “The Last Dance,” though.
Don’t get comfortable.#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/469ajMJU1P
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 18, 2020
Jordan’s early advice to the Bronx native was cut from the same cloth, if anything.
“MJ, the advice he always gave me was [that you] just had to bring it every night, man,” related Walker. “He always told me, ‘Don’t get comfortable.’ That’s his thing — ‘don’t get comfortable, don’t get comfortable,’ and I always heard it, too. ‘I ain’t getting comfortable; I’m keeping this job forever.'”
“Every time he’d tell me that, that was just my mentality. I’m not getting comfortable. I know who my boss is! You know? I’m not about to let you down,” he added. “He’s been very influential in my basketball career.”
Walker and Jordan may be on separate paths now, but the former Charlotte guard still looks back on his time with MJ fondly.
And while their leadership styles couldn’t be more night and day with the former Husky choosing to lead quietly by example, the same killer instinct and insatiable desire to compete is exuded by the Celtic point guard.
And Walker’s fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
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