Byron Scott was one of the cornerstones of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime dynasty of the 1980s. As their starting shooting guard for much of his time with them, he provided them with accurate outside shooting, a strong finisher in transition and even some defense. He spent nine seasons with the Purple and Gold starting in the 1983-84 campaign, and he returned from one final go-around in the 1996-97 season.
During Scott’s first stint in Los Angeles, Michael Jordan was evolving from a great and exciting individual player to the titan of the basketball world and arguably the greatest basketball player ever. Scott admitted on a recent episode of the “All The Smoke” podcast that while he may not have feared Jordan, he made sure he didn’t make the Chicago Bulls legend mad (h/t Lakers Daily).
Jordan inspired fear in opposing players like perhaps no one else in the history of sports. It is likely that plenty of opposing players would be psyched out before a game against him even started due to his indomitable need to dominate all competitors.
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