NEW YORK • Retired National Basketball Association (NBA) legend Michael Jordan has warned that the "superteam" era will create a league with 28 "garbage" clubs that will struggle.
Jordan, who sparked the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles in the 1990s, addressed the topic in an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine unveiled on Thursday on its website.
He also talked about his friend Tiger Woods, the 14-time Major winner struggling to return to golf after multiple back operations, and said he himself might not have "survived in this Twitter time".
Jordan's toughest talk was on the state of the NBA, where several teams have stockpiled talent to try and dethrone the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, who last season united stars Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry to form a dominant squad that claimed a second title in three seasons.
In the past few months, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have also added star talent to their rosters before the new season starts on Tuesday.
"I think it's going to hurt the overall aspect of the league from a competitive standpoint," Jordan told the magazine.
"You're going to have one or two teams that are going to be great and another 28 teams that are going to be garbage, or they are going to have a tough time surviving in the business environment."
Jordan, 54, also said he lacks the patience to be a coach, saying: "For me to ask an individual to focus on the game the way I played would, in some ways, be unfair and if he didn't do it, there's no telling where my emotions would be."
Regarding Woods, whose Major total ranks second to the 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, Jordan said the injured star is in a transitional phase perhaps made more difficult by today's social media.
"I don't know if I could have survived in this Twitter time, where you don't have the privacy that you would want," he said.
Jordan would also not be drawn into a comparison of Woods and Nicklaus in the Greatest Of All Time debate.
"That's more for stories and hype," he added. "Jack and Tiger never played against each other. They never played with the same equipment.
"I never played against Wilt Chamberlain. I never played against Jerry West. To now say that one is greater than the other is being a little bit unfair.
"How much did each one impact, change or evolve the game? Obviously Jack won more during the time he played.
"Tiger evolved it to where it crossed a lot of different boundaries, where it's not just a white guy's sport - black guys, African-Americans, all minorities play the game.
"He played it at a level to where it generated so much interest financially that it grew the game from a financial standpoint.
"Now does that constitute him being the greatest? To say he's any less than Jack, I think, is unfair."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE