Photo Credit: Joe Holloway Jr./AP Photo

Michael Jordan Once Called An ‘Olive Garden’ To Tell A Teammate He’s Been Traded Mid-Lunch

The mayor of suburban Cleveland town, Warrensville Heights, Ohio, Brad Sellers has one of the best Michael Jordan stories ever.

If you aren’t from the Cleveland area, nor a die-hard 1980s basketball fan, the name might not ring a bell, but Brad Sellers once was a teammate of Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls.

Sellers was drafted in the first round of the 1986 NBA Draft, but already was a controversial selection from the get go. Other front-office members, and players – including Michael Jordan, wanted to draft Jordan’s friend, Johnny Dawkins. Bulls GM Jerry Krause though, wanted to add Sellers to the roster because of his above-average shooting ability for a player his size. Sellers was destined to be the first 7-foot small forward – Krause really was ahead of his time.

Unfortunately for Krause and Sellers, he never really became more than a role player and with the emergence of Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant, who were drafted a year later, Sellers ended up becoming the odd man out, who suddenly wasn’t part of the rotation anymore. This is when Sellers asked Jordan himself to help him get traded. Jordan agreed which led to the funny situation of him calling the Olive Garden Sellers was eating at, to let him know that his wish of a trade had been fulfilled.

Per The Undefeated:

“I told MJ, ‘You got to go in there and tell them that this is not going to work for me here,’ ” Sellers said.

“You really want me to do that?” Jordan asked.

“Absolutely,” Sellers replied.

“OK,” Jordan said. “I’ll do it.”

The next day, Jordan tracked down Sellers, who was enjoying a plate of chicken parmesan at Olive Garden when he was interrupted by the restaurant manager.

“Michael Jordan’s on the phone.”

Sellers took the call.

“They’re trading you to Seattle tomorrow,” Jordan told him. “Good luck, B.”

Sellers spent half a season with the Seattle SuperSonics before being dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“When I got to Seattle, I said, ‘What in the hell did I just do?’ ” said Sellers, who since 2011 has been the mayor of his hometown of Warrensville Heights, Ohio. “I was young and dumb.”