Iconic MJ vs MJ ad featured future Sixth Man of the Year playing a young Jordan

Michael Jordan has been the face of Gatorade for years.

The former Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards all-time great starred in several memorable commercials for the sports drinks company during his prime.

None are more famous that then 1991 ‘Be Like Mike’ ad that captivated audiences, solidified MJ’s status as a cultural phenomenon and created one of the most iconic slogans in advertising history.

Another fan-favorite collaboration between Jordan and Gatorade was the ‘MJ vs MJ’ – or ’23 vs 39′ – commercial that debuted in 2003 when a 39-year-old Jordan was playing for the Wizards.

The advert shows Jordan working out and putting up shots alone in a gym before a door opens and Michael Jordan walks in.

Only this is the young MJ, complete with a No. 23 Bulls jersey and pair of red-and-black Air Jordans with hops for days.

The enthusiastic rookie and wily veteran go 1-on-1 and trade trash talk before the more experienced version shows his class.

At the end, an even younger avatar of MJ – one from his college days in North Carolina – steps in and asks, ‘who got next?’

It’s the stuff of dreams for any basketball nerd and a pretty unforgettable TV spot.

However, fans are only just discovering, some 21 years after the commercial first aired, that former NBA star Jamal Crawford played the younger version of Mike (the one wearing the Bulls uniform)

“I was 22 [years old] I believe,” the three-time Sixth Man of the Year reflected. “And I was the younger version.”

The former Phoenix Suns guard explained that the commercial’s director told him there were no lines of dialogue during the shoot, and simply instructed him to play 1-on-1 against Jordan.

“I start reaching for the ball, and [MJ] is like, ‘you reach, I teach,'” Crawford remembered.

One shocked fan said: “I remember this commercial. Didn’t know about Crawford’s role.”

However, Crawford also revealed that while he did all of the 1-on-1 action, the dunking was actually performed by Kevin Daley, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound MJ lookalike who’d been playing on the Harlem Globetrotters travelling team.

“Dude playing young MJ did a pretty good job of mimicking his signature dunks,” said one fan.

According to ESPN, the creative team at Element 79, a digital advertising agency in Chicago, gave birth to the concept and Photoshopped Jordan’s likeness onto Crawford and Daley.

“We wanted it to be a very simple, clean idea,” said Dennis Ryan, chief creative officer at Element 79. “We wanted to treat it like a character study. Just Michael vs. Michael.”

According to him, Daley was the only player they could find who could dunk like Mike.

The creative agency performed a cyber scan on Jordan’s head, shoulders and body and were able to create an incredibly accurate digital sculpture of a young Jordan which they superimposed on Crawford and Daley.

Their digital wizardry worked like a charm and they created one of the coolest sports commercials ever made.

Jordan won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, including six Finals MVPs.

He was also part of the legendary 1992 Team USA Olympics team, nicknamed ‘The Dream Team’, arguably the greatest sports team ever assembled.