When I first learned that Michael Jordan would not be present for Kobe Bryant’s last game in Charlotte, I was a little surprised. But not really. It felt like a classic MJ move. Yes, Kobe would get a touching tribute from the G.O.A.T. but only in video form because MJ is still MJ, and no one else in the world — including Kobe Bryant — is on MJ’s level.
Alas, I read way, waaaaay too much into it. The simple fact is that Michael Jordan is on vacation in the Bahamas and loves gambling just as much as he loves the game of basketball. So here he is peacefully playing blackjack at a table with Derek Jeter, Hannah Davis (on Jeet’s lap) and… golfer Luke Donald? Sure.
It’s funny because in MJ’s farewell message to Kobe, he stressed more than once how curious he was as to what the Black Mamba would ending up doing to replace the furious internal fire that basketball has brought out of him, seemingly since birth.
Jordan found casinos. Who the hell knows what Kobe will find.
[H/T Complex, Busted Coverage]