Michael Jordan had one potential issue when playing for Team USA at the 1992 Olympics: "They can kick me off"

Michael Jordan is an icon and one of the most marketable figures in sports. Since Jordan was the most prominent basketball superstar, an issue hounded the 1992 United States Olympic team. Jordan was part of the original dream team alongside big names such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. However, because of his ties with Nike, MJ was someone that the league and USA Basketball could not market freely.

Jordan was ready for the inevitable

Jordan's business partners and the two organizations were in dispute. Unless both sides could work it out, the Chicago Bulls star was almost left off the Summer Olympics team.

"If it comes to a point where they feel they can't compromise if it's going to be the way they've made it out to be, that's going to be tough to swallow," Jordan said at the time via the New York Times .

The 3rd overall pick of the 1984 Draft made it clear that he wanted to play. But if the business side of things wouldn't work out, he was ready to accept any decision that would come his way. However, quitting voluntarily was not an option for him.

"I'm not here to resign, but it's their team. They can kick me off," the North Carolina product stated.

Compromise reached

All groups concerned discussed the matter and thankfully, everything was ironed out. Jordan wanted to play for the national team, and the money made from sales of Team USA merchandise was settled. All proceeds would go to USA Basketball, a non-profit organization.

As for the Olympics itself, Jordan was dominant as expected. He started in all eight games for the United States, averaging 14.9 points per contest to go with his 4.8 assists, 4.1 steals and 2.4 rebounds. Air Jordan was second to Charles Barkley who led the team in scoring with 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 steals, and 2.4 assists.

In the gold medal round, the Americans unsurprisingly trashed Croatia, 117-85, in Barcelona, Spain. When the awarding ceremonies came around, Jordan, Barkley, and Magic needed to improvise as the players unzipped their jackets.

Reebok, the official outfitter of Team USA at the time, had a sponsor patch found on the right shoulder of the players' uniforms. Aware that it could lead to problems, Jordan was one of the players who used the American flag and put it over his shoulder when the medal-awarding ceremonies commenced. Other players who did the same were Barkley and Johnson.

Jordan explained the reason behind his somewhat unusual move at the time. He mentioned how everyone agreed not to deface the Reebok logo and how the American flag was the most appropriate symbol. It was more of showing everyone that the US flag is what the 1992 Dream Team stood for.

Related: Why Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen tortured Toni Kukoc at '92 Olympics: "We were playing against Jerry Krause in a Croatian uniform"