Texas Basketball: 3 Longhorns who were Michael Jordan foes in NBA

2. LaSalle Thompson, Center

The now 58-year-old Cincinnati, OH, native and 6-foot-10 big man LaSalle Thompson was a monster for Texas men’s hoops in the early 1980’s. In just shy of 100 games played in three years playing for the Longhorns, Thompson would average around 17 points per game and 11 rebounds. He is one of the best centers in program history, and that says a lot.

The run for Thompson in the NBA would last for a long stretch of time too, as he would play in the league until the 1996-97 season.

Thompson was originally the fifth overall pick of the Kansas City Kings (now the Sacramento Kings) in the 1982 NBA Draft. He was picked up in the same NBA Draft as other former superstars such as James Worthy, Fat Lever, Dominique Wilkins, and Terry Cummings.

However, since Thompson spent much of his NBA career playing in the same division as Jordan and the Bulls, he obviously became very familiar with them. Although, he didn’t have much luck when he did face up against Jordan and the Bulls in the regular season. Thompson and Jordan faced each other in the regular season nearly three-dozen times.

Thompson would come out with a poor record against MJ of 9-26. Somehow, though, these two never met in the playoffs. But Thompson did average 6.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.7 blocks, and 0.7 steals, while shooting 52.1 percent from the field in those 35 games against MJ. Thompson also started in 19 of those 35 outings.