Stephen Curry (DR) / NBA (DR)
During his career, Nicolas Batum notably had the privilege of working closely with Michael Jordan, in Charlotte. However, he has another link with the six-time champion, which allowed him to live a pretty crazy moment on the Monaco side a few years ago. A crazy story he recently told at the microphone of RMC Sports.
Between 2014 and 2019, Nicolas Batum was particularly close to Michael Jordan. Not only was he a Hornets player, which the Bulls legend owns, but he’s also sponsored by the Jordan Brand that the Hall of Famer brought to market. As a result, their interactions were not limited to activities within the franchise. Enough to allow the current Clippers winger to experience an absolutely crazy moment during a trip to Monaco, which he told RMC Sports recently:
🤩 @nicolas88batum recounts the first time he met Michael Jordan. #RMClive pic.twitter.com/a5O5vVcbyN
– The Big Guess of Sport – RMC (@GGsportRMC) August 21, 2022
The crazy trip to the Batum casino with Michael Jordan
I am personally sponsored by him, even today. He does a lot of seminars with all the athletes of the brand, so there are guys from basketball, golf, baseball and now also from NASCAR, for example. In 2019, he came to see me and he asked me: “What do you think about doing that in France? That’s what he did, we held the seminar in Monaco.
He took all the athletes and brand people, and we spent a week in a hotel. It was there that I saw that I had a special relationship with him: on the last evening, he reserved the top floor of the Monaco casino, and there he said to me: “Come see me! So I sit down with him, and I find myself at one o’clock in the morning, sitting on the balcony of the Monaco casino, smoking cigars with Michael Jordan, his brother, his lawyer and another player.
For an hour, we passed cigars but kind huge, we drank glasses. You live the moment, and after an hour I say to myself: “Damn, do you realize what you are doing? I don’t have any pictures but it’s a true story, I was spending time with this guy, when millions of people would give anything to experience this moment. We started talking about everything and nothing, it was great.
There is indeed reason to be jealous of the Olympic vice-champion, who had an experience there that could not be more privileged. By the way, Nico also confirmed that if the big boss of the Hornets stood apart from his players, it was not without reason. Indeed, he would still be able to bring misery to many people:
His talent is not wasted. He is still there, he has his little moves. He doesn’t jump high like he used to, but he’s still there.
Nicolas Batum was Michael Jordan’s employee at the Hornets, but his sponsorship by the His Airness brand also allowed him to experience this kind of mind-blowing moment with the former fullback. As the Blue said so well, some would have given everything to be in his place!