Former Bulls Player Recalls Michael Jordan Hitting the Bar Before a Game, Still ‘Got 30 at Half’

Craig Hodges was formerly a teammate of Michael Jordan's during his time with the Chicago Bulls, and he recently recalled how he once saw MJ drink beer before a game and still put in impressive numbers.

Hodges, who was with MJ at the Bulls from 1988 to 1992, was the latest guest on Matt Barnes' and Stephen Jackson's All the Smoke podcast and shared several stories from his time playing with the NBA legend. At around the 58:50 point of the podcast, as seen above, Barnes asked Hodges about the time they were "finishing up the season against Miami."

"We go to shootaround and we leave shootaround and we're on the bus and MJ is like, 'Man, drop me off here' and dropped him at the bar and said he gonna have some beer," Hodges shared, to which Jackson was audibly shocked. "He tells us to pick him up on the way back to the game. We pick him up. He still got his sweats on. And you know MJ come to the game suited and booted. Pick him up, he get on the bus, 'Yeah man, I'm feeling good'. Bubbly, could smell the beer on him. Got 30 at half. Going through warmups, 'Man, I'm seeing three rims. I'mma shoot at the one in the middle.'"

Jackson paused for a moment and smiled, "That's hard." Hodges said that MJ told the rest of the team that they could beat the Miami Heat lineup without him. "He came in there and got it done early and sat out," he continued. "Went and sat down."

Hodges was part of the roster that led the Bulls to become NBA champions in 1991 and 1992. He was waived after the 92 season and played in various international leagues in the years that followed, but he returned to the NBA in 2005 when he served as an assistant coach at the Los Angeles Lakers until 2011.