Michael Jordan made it clear when he was interviewed for “The Last Dance” documentary series that he still hates Isiah Thomas. While it was well known that there was no love lost between the two, many were surprised to learn that Jordan has not gotten over the feud and probably never will. That was news to Thomas, too.
Thomas discussed his 1992 Olympic snub during an appearance on “Club Shay Shay” with Shannon Sharpe. He said he was surprised to learn Jordan dislikes him so much and doesn’t really understand why.
“I never had no bad words with him or anything like that,” Thomas said. “We played. His team won and my team won. We went home and they went home.”
Thomas, of course, is conveniently ignoring the main reason Jordan doesn’t like him or the rest of the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons. Jordan felt they showed poor sportsmanship by walking off without shaking hands after the Chicago Bulls beat them in the playoffs in 1991. M.J. spoke about that during “The Last Dance” and confirmed it is why he has so much hostility toward Thomas and that team.
Thomas said the only player he knew personally on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team was Magic Johnson. The Hall of Fame guard also mentioned how he wasn’t looking to make any friends and believed Jordan was the only person who had a problem with him being on the team.
.@IsiahThomas says he watched 'The Last Dance' with "great fascination and disappointment"
"It seems like it was only one person that had a problem [with me on the Dream Team], and that was Jordan. Until I watched 'The Last Dance,' I didn’t realize MJ felt that way about me.” pic.twitter.com/IDIFS09WcF
— Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) November 11, 2020
Jordan may have been the driving force behind Thomas being snubbed, but he wasn’t the only reason. Scottie Pippen openly said years ago that he didn’t want Thomas on the Dream Team. An audio recording of Jordan talking about the situation (listen to it here) also indicated Charles Barkley wanted Thomas left off the Olympic roster.
Thomas has tried to explain why the Pistons refused to shake hands with the Bulls, but Jordan’s opinion on that is never going to change. The same can likely be said about his opinion of Thomas, no matter how surprised Thomas claims to be.
H/T Dime
