Former Detroit Pistons forward Adrian Dantley was traded from the Detroit Pistons to the Dallas Mavericks in 1989 — just before the team won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990. Any move the Pistons made that year will be viewed as genius in hindsight, but Dantley believes he was shipped out of town only because Isiah Thomas wanted him gone.
And yes, he holds a grudge. During a recent interview with Matt Dery on 105.1 FM in Detroit, Dantley ripped Thomas and said he refuses to watch ESPN’s new “30 for 30” documentary on the Bad Boys, despite the fact that he was interviewed for it.
“I’m not gonna watch that; you think I’m gonna listen to Isiah talk?” Dantley said, via The Detroit News.
It’s clear that Dantley has a personal issue with Thomas, and he said it stems from his belief that the Pistons traded him midway through the 1989 season because Thomas wanted him gone.
“I’ll bet you one thing: If I was running around there kissing Isiah’s (expletive), I’d still be there,” Dantley continued.
With that in mind, we know to take anything Dantley says about Thomas with a grain of salt. Still, he had a pretty strong opinion when asked if he thinks Thomas would do well as the general manager of the Pistons.
“Con man,” Dantley said. “He has a way of tricking people, and he tricked a lot of people.”
Rumors surfaced last month that the Pistons may be interested in hiring Thomas as GM with current GM Joe Dumars’ contract set to expire. Considering Thomas made some of the worst decisions in Knicks’ franchise history when he was hired as president of basketball operations in 2003, the move would surprise a lot of people. If Thomas is as good a “con man” as Dantley says he is, I guess we shouldn’t be shocked.
