Breaking News: Michael B. Jordan Wanted to Change His Name Because of the Other Michael Jordan…see more

“Big time!” the Creed star said. “I got teased so much, to the point where I almost changed my name.”

His initial plan was to lean on his middle name, Bakari. “It definitely made me want to be competitive and be good at – I wanted to be great at something, if not for nothing else at that time just to, like, feel like I had my own identity,” he explained.

Looking back, he said, having the same name as the NBA Hall of Famer “was a part of the alchemy that made me who I am today.” Smith noted that the name Bakari means “noble promise” in Swahili and asked if Jordan feels he’s lived up to that name.

“I feel like I’m walking in that and will continue to do so, big time,” he said. “We got a lot more things to do, you know? We’re just getting started.”

“I never knew how many casting directors and executives in Hollywood would tell me, ‘Oh man, my wife really loves you.’ Or like, ‘Oh, she watches you all the time on the stories… Come in for this and read for that,’ ” he said.