Michael Jordan to son: Don’t be like Mike

He said he hasn’t hidden that part of his life from his children, but has talked to them about it.

“I want people to understand, gambling is not a bad thing if you do it within the framework of what it's meant to be, which is fun and entertaining,” he told Lauer. “So my lesson to [Jeff] is, don't ever go outside your means. Don't ever put yourself in a predicament where now you're gonna regret it.”

Marriage and divorce
He and his wife, Juanita, married in 1989 and had three children, Jeff, Marcus and Jasmine. They filed for divorce in 2002, reconciled, then finally dissolved the union last December. He’s never talked about it until now.

“It was hard,” Jeff Jordan said. “I could see it coming a little bit more than my younger brother and my younger sister, but it was hard for all of us.”

“But he was very mature about it,” his father added. “His mom and I were on the same page when it came to that — our kids came first. We still communicate each and every day. Nothing's being done with the kids that we don't communicate. And we're very good friends actually. And they can sense that.”

Michael Jordan and his wife didn’t shut the kids out of what was going on in their own lives, he said. “We have all different types of dialogues, even with all of us in the same room,” he said. “It’s fun that if we can relate, and we can yet stay on the same page even through a trying and negative time.”

The competitive nature is in the genes
He said he and Jeff are more like best friends now, and the basketball games they used to play were what you’d expect from one of the most competitive people on earth and a son who shares his desire to win. Michael Jordan showed no mercy in those games, either in his play or in the trash talk for which he was infamous around the NBA.

He said he last played Jeff about a year ago. “I had the upper hand, and I quit,” he said.

“You quit?” Lauer asked incredulously.

“I did,” he said. “It got to the point with him and my youngest — they’re such competitors and so am I.”

He said he’s not as agile or quick as he used to be, and didn’t want to start losing, because when you accept losing, that’s what you do.

“Have you beaten him?” Lauer asked Jeff Jordan.

“I’ll put it on the record,” he replied. “Yes.”

“Ask him how many times,” his dad challenged Lauer before emphatically answering his own question: “Once.”

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