What made Michael Jordan stop giving compliments to Luc Longley in the middle of a game? Taking a closer look

Luc Longley spent four and a half seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The veteran big man was Chicago's starting center between 1994 and 1998. During that time, Luc Longley won three NBA championships, as the Chicago Bulls 'threepeated' between 1996 and 1998.

However, Micahel Jordan often refrained from complimenting Longley during games. During an interview for The Last Dance, Jordan noted how Longley had once struggled throughout three-quarters of a contest after Jordan had praised his hot start to a game.

"In 98. We're playing the Utah Jazz," Jordan said. "Scottie Pippin was out. I go to Luke at the beginning of the game, and I said, look, you have to establish yourself inside. You have to dominate because we don't have Scottie. It's me and Dennis and you."

"The first quarter ends, Luke has twelve points, four blocks, and four rebounds. And I go to Luke, and I say, that's how you play, man. You do that. We dominate. We are up by 16. We're killing them in their building. At the end of the game, Luke had twelve points, four rebounds, and four blocks. And Luke says, 'It's okay, mate.' I just looked at Luke, and I said, you know what, Luke? That is the last time I'm going to give you a compliment in the middle of the game."

Jordan and Longley won a championship that season, but then Longley moved to the Phoenix Suns the following season, and the duo never played together again.

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Michael Jordan would have forced Shaquille O'Neal to stay with Lakers

During a 2005 interview with Cigar Aficionado's Marvin R. Shanken, Michael Jordan was asked about the trade that split up the duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

"I would have never gotten rid of Shaq [O'Neal]. It's as simple as that. You've got three championships with a big man, and big men are hard to find. Not only that, you have the most dominant big man in the game today. You don't just send him away because you got some problems."

Jordan did go on to note how neither O'Neal nor Bryant was to blame as individuals and that it was both of them being unable to see eye-to-eye that led to the Lakers moving on from their star big man,

"But you can't blame one guy. It's a combination of both of them. If you've got success in your house, you find a way to manage so that everybody prospers and everybody is viewed as champion. Personalities got involved after they'd had some success. It becomes about individuals—individual goals that they wanted to achieve."

Jordan knows all about being part of a dominant duo. During his tenure in the NBA, Scottie Pippen and Jordan were the most fearsome pairing in the league. As such, Jordan is likely speaking from experience when he says that keeping an elite duo together is about finding ways to manage egos and focus on prosperity.