When you’re the son of Michael Jordan—the greatest basketball player of all time—the world expects you to soar. But for 14-year-old Jaden Jordan, those expectations felt more like a weight than a pair of wings.
Jaden loved basketball, but he wasn’t his father. He was a solid player on his Chicago middle school team, the Eagles, but not a star. He had his dad’s eyes and smile, but not his gravity-defying leaps or unshakable confidence. Jaden was just Jaden, and that never seemed to be enough.
One Friday night, with three minutes left in a game the Eagles were winning easily, Coach Miller finally called his name. Jaden’s heart pounded as he ran onto the court. His teammate passed him the ball. Jaden cut to the hoop, leaped, and… missed the layup. The ball spun around the rim and fell out. Groans echoed from the stands.
“Like father, unlike son!” someone shouted. Jaden’s cheeks burned. He missed a defensive assignment, and Coach Miller pulled him after two minutes. The final buzzer sounded, and Jaden was first to the locker room.
“Hey, Air Jaden! Nice airball!” a teammate teased. Jaden muttered, “It hit the rim,” but the laughter stung. He changed quickly, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
The ride home was silent. Their driver, Mr. Reynolds, knew better than to ask about the game. At home, the house was quiet—his mom at a charity event, his dad in Charlotte for Hornets business. Jaden wandered into the trophy room, filled with his father’s golden memories: six NBA championship trophies, MVP awards, photos of Michael soaring through the air. Jaden stared at a photo of his dad dunking from the free-throw line. “I’ll never be like you,” he whispered.
His phone buzzed—a text from his best friend, Tyrell: “How was the game?” Jaden replied, “Missed a layup. Everyone laughed.” Tyrell texted back, “You got in the game! That’s something.” Tyrell didn’t care about the last name. He just cared about Jaden.
But the world did care. By the time Jaden heated up leftovers, a video of his missed layup had gone viral. The caption read: “Guess the GOAT genes skipped a generation.” Comments poured in—most mocking, some cruel. Jaden turned off his phone and went to his room.
He pulled out his journal—his therapist’s idea. “Dear Journal,” he wrote, “I missed another shot today. Everyone laughed. Someone shouted about me not being like Dad. As if I didn’t know that already.” He paused. “Sometimes I think I should quit basketball. But what would Dad say?”
He closed the journal and crawled into bed, whispering into the darkness, “Maybe I should just quit.” But he knew he wouldn’t—not yet.
The next day at school, the teasing was relentless. Kids mimed missed layups in the hallway. Even some teachers looked at him with pity. At lunch, Tyrell and new friend Mia Chen tried to distract him with talk of the upcoming STEM fair.
“Mr. Wilson says you’re the best at engineering stuff,” Mia said. Jaden felt a small spark of pride. Science made sense. Basketball didn’t.
But the video kept spreading. That night, Jaden’s sister Jasmine called. “You okay, Jay?” she asked. “Dad wasn’t even a starter at your age. He got cut from his high school team as a sophomore. People forget that.” Jaden was stunned. “Really?” “Really. You should talk to Dad. He understands pressure.”
But Jaden didn’t want to talk. He wanted to disappear.
On Sunday, Jaden hid in his late grandfather’s workshop. The smell of wood and oil calmed him. He tinkered with his grandfather’s old radio—something he’d always wanted to fix. Hours passed as he studied the circuitry, his fingers steady and sure.
That afternoon, Tyrell arrived, out of breath. “Have you seen the new posts?” he asked. Jaden shook his head. “People are defending you. Kids, even adults. They’re saying it’s unfair to expect you to be your dad.” He showed Jaden the videos. For every mocking comment, there was now a voice of support.
“People want to hear from you,” Tyrell urged. “Your side.” Jaden hesitated. “What would I say?” “Whatever you want. It’s your life.”
That night, Jaden wrote. He wrote about pressure, about living in a shadow, about loving basketball but also loving science, fixing things, helping others. He wrote about wanting to find his own way.
On Monday, Jaden decided he couldn’t hide forever. At school, some kids still teased, but others nodded at him in support. In the evening, his siblings came home for a “family meeting.” Jeffrey, Marcus, and Jasmine all shared their own struggles with living up to the Jordan name. “Dad never pressured us,” Jasmine said. “He just wanted us to be happy.”
That evening, Michael Jordan came home. He hugged Jaden a little longer than usual. “You okay, son?” he asked. “I’m figuring things out,” Jaden replied. His dad nodded. “That’s all any of us can do.”
The next day, Jaden went to Coach Miller’s office instead of practice. Coach handed him a book: *Famous Children Who Chose Different Paths*. “Greatness isn’t about standing in someone else’s light,” Coach said. “It’s about finding your own.”
Jaden spent the week reading, fixing the radio, helping at the community center with kids who played basketball just for fun. He started to see himself differently—not as a failed copy of his father, but as someone with his own gifts.
By Friday, Jaden was ready. With help from Tyrell and Mia, he filmed a video. He spoke honestly about the pressure of being Michael Jordan’s son, about his love for basketball and science, about wanting to be known for who he was, not just his last name.
“I’m not trying to fill my dad’s shoes,” he said. “I’m making my own.”
They edited the video and posted it online.
Overnight, it went viral. But this time, the comments were different. “This kid has more maturity than most adults.” “Thank you for saying what so many of us feel.” “I’m a musician’s son—I needed to hear this.”
Jaden’s siblings called, proud. Even his dad texted: “Proud of you, son. No matter what.”
The Jordan Brand reached out, interested in Jaden’s sketches for affordable basketball shoes. At school, kids talked to him about science, about their own pressures, about finding their own paths.
At the next community center practice, Dion—a boy with worn-out sneakers—asked, “Are you really Michael Jordan’s son?” “I am,” Jaden said. “Cool. Can you help me with my jump shot?” Dion grinned.
Jaden smiled. He was more than a name. He was Jaden Jordan, and this was just the beginning of his own story.
Marcus Jordan To Fan Reminding Him His Father Is Michael Jordan: “How TF That’s Gone Help My Internet RN”
One imagines being the son of the GOAT, Michael Jordan, must have some benefits. Well, that appears to be the case but none of that helped Marcus Jordan on Tuesday when he was ranting about how bad his internet was. The cause of the failure is undisclosed but Marcus was pissed according to his tweets and the responses he sent after that.
One fan replied to him with the most random tweet to this situation, reminding him that his father is none other than Michael Jordan, His Airness.
“Bro your dad is michael jordan,” the user wrote.
Marcus wasn’t having of that and called out this person for his comment.
“How TF that’s gone help my internet rn🤨😑,” he said.
It’s unclear if this person was just trying to give props to him, he was trying to tell him to use his father’s connections or he just found out Marcus was the son of Michael, but the timing to write this wasn’t the best one. We’re not sure how the whole situation ended up, if the internet connection got better for Jordan if he called his dad to use his clout to fix this situation or anything else.
The only thing we learned here is don’t mess with Marcus when he’s mad. He’s just like his father.
