Young MJ got scolded by his dad because he did not know what a wrench was.

Michael Jordan was known for creating slights to elevate his performance in the NBA. However, MJ did not need to do that as a kid.

Mike’s dad loved to spend hours in the garage. Jordan’s elder brother Larry often assisted him when he was working with cars. But one time, when Larry wasn’t around, Michael was supposed to help him. James Sr. asked MJ to get a wrench from his toolbox. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what his father was asking for.

“Get back in the house with your mom boy,” James Sr. told Mike, per “Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan. “You’re never going to be anything. Just go back with your mom.”

Sibling rivalry with Larry
Michael was the fourth of five children in the Jordan family. He had two older brothers, James Jr. and Larry, and was closer to the latter, given that they were born 11 months apart.

Being older and stronger, Larry would always beat Michael in their one-on-one battles in the backyard. MJ even went as far as to say that Larry was the only player better than him. He was also the more knowledgeable son when it came to helping their father in the garage.

“I always felt I was fighting Larry for my father’s attention,” the Chicago Bulls legend once said.

Larry knew MJ would be great
While young Mike was always the underdog to Larry at home, he did not lose faith in himself. The NBA legend never beat his older brother in the car garage, but he kept working on his basketball skills.

Larry knew Mike would become great at something. But given his love for baseball at the time, he didn’t know it would be basketball.

“We had this barbecue pit that we’d use as the backstop, and we’d play baseball with a tennis ball, and we had numerous battles,” Larry recalled. “I was the guy who went for the base hits, and Michael would go for home runs. He always had that glamour in him.”

True enough, after his life-changing growth spurt in high school, MJ went from being cut from the high school varsity team to becoming the greatest player in the history of the NBA. More importantly, he proved his father wrong.