Michael Jordan and Gary Payton's competitiveness was highlighted in the 2020 documentary about the Chicago Bulls titled “The Last Dance.” One of the more memorable moments in the docu-series, however, was when Jordan laughed off The Glove for saying he was able to make life hard for the legendary NBA forward.

In a passionate retelling in Episode 8 of the documentary, Payton spoke about how he didn't back down to Jordan during the 1996 NBA Finals between the Seattle SuperSonics and the Bulls. When Payton was finally allowed to guard Mike, the Hall of Fame point guard claimed he was able to “tire” Jordan out as his defense took a toll on him.

Sure enough, Jordan dropped a mocking laugh at the statement. He even had a shocked reaction when Payton said that him guarding MJ gave the SuperSonics a “turning point.” For what it's worth, the Bulls still ended up winning the contest in six games.

Now, in Bleacher Report's AMA, Gary Payton broke his silence on Michael Jordan's reaction in the popular NBA documentary:

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“It’s like this to me. He wouldn’t be Michael Jordan if he would have bowed down there. Everybody knows about his competitiveness. He was a guy who came every night to play. I respect him for that because I came every night to play. I was never gonna back down to him and he knew that,” the 52-year-old ex-NBA star said.

“If it was my documentary and they asked me the same thing I would have laughed too and been like ‘no he couldn’t go at me neither.' Every night I played Michael Jordan he brought the best out of me. Wish I could have started off on him in the championship and it would have been better, but their team was better than mine at the time and they won it all. He did a documentary, he felt the way he felt. What I can do is I can say the same thing hahaha.”

For what it's worth, the Sonics did improve when Payton guarded Jordan. After all, they won Games 4 and 5 after the Bulls took a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Unfortunately, the Seattle-based squad was unable to maintain the momentum and fell in the sixth meeting.