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Michael Jordan Cancelled His Return-From-Retirement Press Conference After Playing ‘Spades’ For 36 Hours Straight

On the “All things covered” podcast, former NBA vet Antoine Walker shared various Michael Jordan gambling stories. Most recently, he spoke about the time when MJ cancelled his return to the NBA (after pursuing a career in baseball) press-conference. He decided to do so, as he was playing cards for over 36 hours. 

Walker recalls:

“Mike calls, the buy-in goes up a little higher. It’s going to be a number that everybody has to bring to the table. I’d say $20,000 just to get in. If you don’t have $20,000 to get in, you can’t even play. Mike was competitive. I remember one time we played spades for 36 hours. We were playing against two other guys and Mike and I were partners. They had us behind $900,000.”

Nonetheless, for a day and a half, while being seemingly the only person to know of his intentions to return to the Bulls, Michael Jordan decided to play casino games and gamble. The sports world was awaiting a press-conference and heard rumors of his return to the Bulls… but it was never confirmed until the press-conference. Walker explains that Jordan ended up postponing the scheduled press conference for his NBA return, as they were too occupied at the casino.

Walker remembers leaving for Boston a couple of days later, while only having $100,000 cash. 

“I was always a cash person. MJ had about $200,000 on him, but he sent for $500,000. The other guys we played against had money too. They had us down $900,000 and we got back all the money except for $20,000. Mike did not want to see them win $20,000. They ended up winning $180,000 because he got too tired. He was falling asleep at the table.”