Bodyguard Gus Lett became a father figure for Michael Jordan. So when Lett was diagnosed with cancer, the Chicago Bulls icon mustered all his courage to boot out the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals.
The Bulls were faced up against the Larry Bird-coached Pacers squad comprised of Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, among others. Though the Bulls took the first two games, the Pacers stormed back and forced a Game 7. Jordan even admitted that the Pacers were the toughest team they faced in the East outside of the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys.
In the middle of the series, Lett was diagnosed with cancer. And as Michael Jordan recalled, Lett was more than just a bodyguard for him. And he used this as motivation to eliminate the Pacers.
“When people [were] around, they think they’re entitled to certain things, Gus would put them straight,” Jordan explained in The Last Dance. “That was Gus. He’s a protector but he was more than that, and I saw him for being more than that. …When my father got killed, he became like a father-figure to me, and I had to have him next to me everywhere I went.”
"When my father got killed, he became like a father figure to me."
The bond between MJ and Gus Lett was special ❤️ #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/E05i5xXjMs
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 18, 2020
Did it for Gus ♥️ pic.twitter.com/EWjCwq7lV5
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 18, 2020
In an old interview, Lett himself shared what his relationship with Jordan is like, noting that they speak regularly.
“Michael and I talk all the time,” Lett said, per the Chicago Tribune. “Probably twice a week we will talk. We talk about my health. He is encouraging me to keep fighting. And he keeps telling me that it’s going to be all right, which I know it will be. The doctors tell me I’m on the good side of (cancer prognosis). The tumors are gone. And I am going through chemotherapy now.”
Lett passed away in 2000 after a long bout with cancer.
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