"How would you guard me, MF'er?" - When Michael Jordan trash-talked Dan Patrick after winning his last NBA championship

As lethal and dominant as Michael Jordan was on the court with his two-way prowess, he showed little mercy to his opponents while trash-talking them.

Interestingly, those verbal onslaughts weren't just limited to the players in the league, in fact, Dan Patrick experienced this firsthand when he was working as a reporter in 1998. With His Airness set to retire, he didn't waste much time showing the famous NBA podcaster his rightful place.

Dan Patrick got ahead of himself

The 1997-98 season began with the understanding that if GM Jerry Krause wasn't going to bring back Phil Jackson as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, Jordan would likely not return for the next season to play for a different coach.

Despite the uncertainty, at 34 years old, Mike not only led the league in scoring, averaging 28.7 points per game, but also featured in all 82 games in the regular season. Moreover, his performance improved further in the playoffs, as he took his scoring average to 32.4 points per game (33.5 points per game in the NBA Finals)

Moments after guiding the Bulls to their second three-peat, Mike, drenched in champagne, firmly believed that his retirement was due to unforeseen circumstances rather than diminished ability. Nevertheless, with his spirits being high, Jordan was irked when Patrick got ahead of himself and challenged the 6'6" shooting guard.

"He gets up, and we go to commercial break, " Patrick recalled on the show. " And then I said, 'Hey, it's a shame you're retiring, man, because I wanted a piece of you.'"

Jordan put Patrick in his place

Having overcome rigorous double and triple-team defensive schemes in the conference and NBA finals, where he triumphed over Reggie Miller's team and the duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone, Jordan was understandably irritated by a reporter's attempt to challenge him.

As a result, in response, the New York native unapologetically trash-talked Dan, asserting his dominance even off the court.

"He's got the basketball, the game ball, with him and a cigar. And he said, 'How would you guard me, mfer?' And I've got my suit and tie on. We're during commercial break. Phil Jackson's walking over and sitting down. (He said), 'Come here. Let me see how you would guard me, mfer,'" Patrick added. "He goes, 'Is that all you got,' He gave me this look … and he just laughed. He said, 'You're lucky I'm retiring,' and then he walked out the door", Patrick said.

Related: Michael Jordan was strict on his son Jeffrey when he left for college: "If you don't call me within those seven days, eight day I'm going to be standing in front of you"