Michael Jordan floated as a potential Ryder Cup vice captain next year... despite golf-loving NBA legend's friendship with leader of USA's rivals

NBA legend Michael Jordan has been floated as a potential Ryder Cup vice captain following Keegan Bradley's appointment as captain for 2025. 

Bradley was given the nod by the PGA of America Monday to succeed Zach Johnson and lead Team USA in its revenge mission against the Europeans at Bethpage Black in New York next year. 

The New Englander was a surprise pick just 10 months after he was left heartbroken by Johnson’s decision to snub him for a captain’s pick in Rome.

But, after Tiger Woods' reported rejected of the job, the PGA of America seemingly decided to cast a wider net, going in a different direction following the USA's 16.5-11.5 defeat on European soil last September. 

And the organization has been urged to think further out of the box when it comes to the vice captain picks for New York. 

PGA TOUR Radio host Jason Sobel pitched turning to collegiate golf coaches to switch up the locker room. 

The suggestion sparked a different idea from former caddie and ESPN writer Michael Collins.  

'I think if we're going outside the box, give me a college coach that's not a golf coach or give me it from a different sport,' Collins said. 

'Like back in the day would it have been cool to have Phil Jackson in the room. Would it be cool to have [Michael] Jordan?'

He went on to admit that he would also have no objections to former Alabama football coach Nick Saban joining Bradley's team as he's 'all into golf.' 

'I have no problem with a guy like that being in the team room whether in an official assistant captain capacity or unofficially,' Sobel agreed, referring to the suggestions of the Crimson Tide coach and NBA icon. 

'Michael Jordan I would assume - Keegan and MJ play a lot of golf together - you'll see some presence from MJ. 

'I've got no issue with that, I don't know about giving him the full captaincy but look, we're going outside the box. The box has been broken, we've crushed the box. There is no box anymore.'

Jordan is an avid golf fan and player himself, even hitting the course with Ryder Cup team members Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele on occasion. 

The former Chicago Bulls icon regularly attends the Ryder cup but he made a special appearance at Le Golf National in 2018.

The Wednesday before the tournament in Paris he paid a visit to the away team's locker room, pulling on his own experiences of winning on the road to fuel their campaign.

'Michael was talking about how he would always play on the road against tough opponents or crowds that were always against him,' Brooks Koepka said, via The New York Post. 'It's just funny hearing a different athlete's point of view or the way they would go about it, and then you can kind of take what you want from there.

'He talked about how he didn't hear the crowd. I took it as he couldn't wait to shut them up, and the second he would go off … the quieter they are [and] you're kind of laughing inside [and] you've done what you wanted to do. I thought that was pretty cool.'

Fowler said Jordan regaled Team USA with tales 'about some of the teams that were the toughest to play, the guys that he faced and who he thought were the toughest, not just as a team but the individuals that he faced and how he kind of went about home games versus away games.'

However, he was seemingly Europe's secret weapon during the last tournament at Marco Simone.   

European captain Luke Donald and Jordan are friends and neighbors in the same secluded area of Jupiter, Florida - there is one house between the golfer and Jordan. They've vacationed together. Yvette, Jordan's wife, is friends with Diana, Donald's other half.

And Jordan reportedly celebrated Europe's triumph in Rome over his American countrymen last year. 

Jordan hung out with Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Donald for three hours, watching Ryder Cup highlights and toasting the result. 

They also brought up issues that sparked controversy during the competition, such as play-for-pay. It had been claimed that American golfer, Patrick Cantlay, refused to wear a USA hat over players' lack of compensation.

To most golf fans, it might come as a shock to find out that Jordan raised a glass with members of Team Europe. 'He's very much a pro-USA guy,' said Shane Lowry. 

'He sat with us from six to nine,' McIlroy said. 'We were talking about the issue of players being paid at the Ryder Cup and he told a story about the U.S. basketball team, The Dream Team, at the Olympics in '92. '''Do you think I could have got paid to play in the Olympics? These people are missing the point of what it means.'''

'He saw the long-term value of winning an Olympics and said he ended up doing way better than if he had taken money there and then,' McIlroy further said. 'And that's pretty much how I see it.'