Isiah Thomas has rekindled his longstanding feud with Michael Jordan in recent comments, sharpening the way he was portrayed in Jordan’s popular ESPN documentary, “The Last Dance.”
Thomas, 61, opened up how he felt after seeing the production for the first time with Greek NBA rights holder Cosmote TV during the NBA games in Abu Dhabi in early October, according to EuroHoops.
“When I was watching ‘The Last Dance,’ I sat there, and I watch it with my family, and I think everything is fine,” Thomas said. “And then this man comes on television, and he says he hates me, and then he calls me an asshole.”
“And then I watch a whole documentary about him being an asshole. I’m like, wait a minute, time out. Until I get a public apology, this stuff will go on for a long time because I’m from the west side of Chicago.”
Isiah Thomas (#11) was on a par with Michael Jordan (#23) in the late 80s and early 90s
Isiah Thomas and Fabolous attend NBA Abu Dhabi Games at the Etihad Arena in October 2022
Thomas doesn’t understand why Jordan calls him a ‘bastard’ when he displayed similar traits during his playing days
The 10-episode documentary chronicles most of Jordan’s individual and collective achievements, primarily in the 1990s. Sometimes, however, “His Airness” showed its “nasty” side, challenging Scott Burrell, yelling at his teammates during practice, and once hitting Steve Kerr in a scrimmage.
These are the moments Thomas refers to, as well as the sour relationship between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons, which make up much of Jodan’s documentary.
“MJ” lost to Detroit three times in pivotal moments before winning six NBA championships in eight years, including the second round of the 1988 playoffs, the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals, and the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals.
A Thomas-led Pistons team has already won those last two times they knocked out the Bulls and took a certain approach to contain Jordan by never letting him get air, or if he did, then they would give him hit immediately.
Thomas and the Pistons took out the Bulls & Jordan three times before being swept in 1991
In “The Last Dance,” Jordan explained that he used the Pistons’ tactics on him as a source of motivation to add strength and change his game as he grew in his career.
As a result of his hard work and determination, the Bulls won the Pistons in 1991 before finally claiming their first ring as an organization by beating Magic Johnson’s Lakers in the final. The rest is history.
The row between Jordan and Thomas also started that year, in 1991, when the Pistons point guard and his teammates left the field with 7.9 seconds left without shaking hands with the Bulls.
Jordan has denied that his feud with Thomas influenced the decision to let him out of the ‘Dream Team’ at the 1992 Olympics, saying ‘As much as I hate him, I respect his game’ on the latest episode of ESPN’s docuseries The Last Dance
The infamous feud between the two basketball greats dates back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jordan photographed left playing against Germany during the July 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and Thomas photographed right dribbling the ball on the field against the Chicago Bulls during an NBA basketball game circa 1992
The move was widely criticized in the sports world and among NBA fans in particular. It also didn’t sit well with Jordan, who brings it up in his documentary for younger generations to learn about it.
Later in the production, Jordan said that if Thomas had been on the US ‘Dream Team’ at the 1992 Olympics, the camaraderie and cohesion in the group would have been different because of Thomas’ poor sportsmanship from a year earlier.
“The Dream Team, based on the environment and the camaraderie that took place in that team, was the best harmony. Would Isiah have made a different feel to that team? Yes,’ he explained.
The Team USA selection committee that selected that 1992 team backed Jordan and said they never discussed Thomas with him.
“There was never anything in my conversation with (Jordan) that had to do with Isiah Thomas, period,” Olympic Committee president Rod Thorn said of “The Last Dance.”
Dream Team: US National Team Larry Bird #7, Michael Jordan #9 and Magic Johnson #15 pose during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona
The Dream Team pictured above accepts their gold medals after their Olympic win
He said, ‘I will do it. …Isiah’s name never came up during that conversation. And he never came back and said he didn’t want to do it from then on, to those of us in the NBA office.”
“Well, if that actually happened, then it happened to someone else; because when I spoke to him, he finally said he would,” he added.
However, Thomas said looking back on his career, he is hurt that he was not chosen to be part of the Dream Team.
“I tried to do everything right and I thought I should have made the Dream Team,” said Thomas.
Thomas said looking back on his career, he is hurt that he was not chosen to be part of the Olympic squad, saying: ‘I tried to do everything correctly and I thought I should have made the Dream Team ‘
“I don’t know what happened in that process. I met the criteria to be selected, but I wasn’t,” Thomas said
“I don’t know what happened in that process. I met the criteria to be selected, but I wasn’t.
“I wasn’t part of it, that hurt me. And looking back, if I’m not part of the Dream Team because of a sense of emotion in terms of not shaking someone’s hand, if that’s the reason I didn’t make the Dream Team, then today I’m more disappointed than I was then when I was not selected,” he said.
Based on his comments from last month, Thomas feels more upset than ever before.
And the meat goes on and on…
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