Before the 1992 Dream Team, Michael Jordan led Team USA to a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Even as an amateur, Jordan was an NBA-ready stud, and showed he belonged with the the pros during a pre-Olympic exhibition win over a collection of NBA stars in Phoenix.
The NBA team wasn’t some collection of borderline stiffs. Their starting five included Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Walter Davis, Alex English and Larry Nance. Jordan did have future Hall of Famers Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin on his squad, but pouring in 27 – with a some signature dunks – against a group of legit pros as a college kid was still an eye-opening performance.
He also did it in Converse.
The 1984 gold medal would be the USA’s last until the ’92 Dream Team. The under the radar gem of this clip is Billy Packer getting on MJ for wagging his tongue. Classic cranky Packer.
Watch Jordan give the NBA team a sneak preview of what was coming once he entered the league.
Here’s the final Box Score:
Jordan also beat up an NBA squad with Larry Bird during the exhibition. you can watch that here:
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