Jahmani Swanson dubbed the 'Michael Jordan of dwarf basketball'

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Jahmani Swanson may be only 4 feet, 5 inches tall, but don’t let his size fool you. He can take anyone down on the basketball court.

Barcroft TV is calling Swanson “the Michael Jordan of dwarf basketball,” and in an interview with Barcroft, Swanson showed why he deserved such an epithet.

“People think if they’re bigger than me they can post me up, but just because I’m small it doesn’t mean I’m weak,” he said. “I face it when I’m on the street and I face it when I’m on the court but it’s a stage and I love showing what I can do.”

The 29-year-old plays for the New York Towers, a team made up of shorter players who prove to the big boys they’re just as capable on the court.

“I can guard anybody who’s putting the ball down on the floor,” he told WBUR.com. “That’s the thing. You don’t want to put the ball down on the floor. And if you are going to put the ball down on the floor, you should protect that ball. Otherwise it’s my cookie.”

As for the Michael Jordan title, Swanson’s inner fanboy loves it. He’s been a Michael Jordan fan his whole life, after all. Swanson told The Mirror:

I was sleeping with a basketball instead of a teddy bear when I was a kid. All I wanted to do was play. I was a huge fan of Michael Jordan, and if he was playing then I was playing. My mother had to tell me many a time to stop playing ball at 12 o’clock in the middle of the night because they got tired of hearing the ball bounce and things breaking.