 We all know about Michael Jordan's dedication to work. We know all about his work ethic and the amount of hours he put in to become the best version of himself and ultimately reach greatness. He was the greatest player in the NBA and arguably still is. But what a lot of people don't know about Michael Jordan is his contract situation. He had a contract situation called the love of the game in which he was allowed to play whenever, whichever game he wanted, anytime, any plays. It was a clause in his contract and I'll tell you guys the story in this video. Well, it may not seem uncommon now because we see a lot of NBA players go to pick up games, scrimmages, training, but back in 1986, Michael Jordan's first contract allowed him to play in offseason pick up games. And I want to really state that back in those days, it is a lot different to how it is today. Financially and economically, it's way different in terms of how much money these players make. But not only that, it's the fact that you didn't know that these guys were going out there and playing pick up games and things like that. They would just rock up to a park or they'd just rock up all together to a court and play. Today, obviously, it's publicized. We see it on Twitter, we can see it on Instagram and it is popular for players to go out there and play pick up games and scrimmages and stuff like that. Even though they have a risk of injury, prime example of that is Paul George Olympic Games scrimmage injured out for the year. But back in 1984 to 1986, MJ and the Chicago Bulls, as well as the NBA, including David Stern, it was something new, something different. The love of the game clause, it had never been done before. I love the game group because I was cut when I was in high school. That disappointment, that negative response I got back propelled me to say, you know what? I got something to prove to the people who didn't think I could achieve it. That became motivational for me. Every year I played the game basketball, I had a love of the game class in my country. No one could tell me when to play or when not to play. If you have a love for the game, a love for something, you can go that extra mile to make it worthwhile. When MJ signed his first NBA contract, it included details that allowed him to play competitive offseason pick up games. Specifically, this clause allowed Jordan's love of the game, regardless of potential liability, meaning Jordan could have easily been injured, but nothing in his contract would have changed. Which brings up a really valid point in today's NBA, but we'll discuss on that later. This is the story behind the MJ love of the game clause. As we all know, MJ was obviously drafted by the Chicago Bulls third overall, but did you know he then went and returned to North Carolina for an extra two games? In 1986 and 1987. Now also, Jordan refused to skip the 1984 Olympics. Having just been drafted in June, it was arguably in his best interest to sit that summer out. He had been coming off small injuries and things like that, and it was best for him to just rest, but obviously we all know MJ's mentality. It was, if there was a game, he was going to play. And then he signed a new contract for the love of the game. The reason is Jordan had signed a seven-year, $6.3 million rookie contract, which, if you didn't know, is huge for that time. Obviously in today's NBA, players get paid millions and millions of dollars, but back in those days, it wasn't like people earned a lot of money. I mean, great journalists during that time earned about $25,000. So Jordan's $6.3 million for seven years, that's a lot of money. The thing for Jordan though, it wasn't about the money. It was simply about the love of the game, clearly hanced by the contract clause. He was able to play whichever game he wanted because he simply wanted to play each and every game he could find. If there was a basketball game, Jordan wanted to play. It was his competitive nature. It was the way he thought, it was the way he thought, and it was just him. He wanted to play in every basketball game that he could. And this is where it actually all started, because in the early days of baseball, as we all know, Babe Ruth is one of the most famous baseball players ever. I'm from Australia, and even I know that. He was suspended for actually practicing and doing exhibition games in the off-season. He was making money out of it, but it wasn't the money aspect that he was after as well. It was simply because of the fact he loved baseball. But he was actually suspended because of it. He was suspended by the baseball organization simply because he was playing exhibition games. And to him it wasn't because of the money, because he wasn't earning a lot of money. He was earning some dollar out of it, but nothing crazy. However, Michael Jordan had a clause in his contract. He could play in scrimmages. He could play in pickup games with random parts, with random people whenever he wanted. And it was the only player that the general manager of Chicago, Jerry Krause, ever gave that contract to. And heck, he may have not even signed the contract with Chicago had he not even had this clause in him. Jordan has come out and said, once a kid, Jordan played for the love of the game. Because as a kid, there was no financial incentives for playing basketball. It was, do you like basketball? Let's play. Do you want to play basketball? Let's do it. That's how it was as a child, for everyone. And for Jordan, that's what fueled him. That's what drove him. That's why he succeeded, because as a child, there wasn't anything else about basketball for him. Obviously there was baseball, but he was obviously better at basketball as we all know, 1993, we all know MJ was a better basketball player. But he obviously got fueled by his childhood and just playing the game. It was the love of the game, hence the contract name, and that's why he got the contract. I think it truly proves MJ's dedication to the game. He never played for the money. He never did it for anything like that. His contract clearly states that for the love of the game, he was allowed to play whichever game he wanted, whenever he wanted, and that's exactly what he did. He would go to random pick up games and just play it, because that's what he loved to do. So what do you guys think about this story? Let me know down below in the comment section. If you guys did enjoy this video, please hit that like button, it'd really support the channel, and if you're new around here and you want to see more videos just like this one, be sure to hit that subscribe button for NBA content on this channel. I'll catch you guys in my next video, peace.