Michael Jordan after his legendary career, still finds himself atop the NBA pyramid. With never-before-seen displays and unmatched competitiveness, Jordan outlasted everyone challenging his greatness, but it came after considerable setbacks.
The most notable ones came at the hands of the “Bad Boys” of Pistons and the face of Detroit, Isiah Thomas. After handing Jordan his first-ever playoff loss, Isiah went on to challenge the authority of his Airness that had Jordan shaken for years. Now Isiah Thomas wants his due after Jordan insulted him with the whole world watching.
Isiah Thomas wants public apology from Michael Jordan
Isiah Thomas recently appeared on “The Draymond Show” where he spoke about different aspects of the NBA and spilled a lot of beans, his rivalry with Michael Jordan being one of them. The former Pistons guard is still furious with Jordan for making derogatory remarks about Thomas, not in private but on the international platform.
Speaking to Green about the issue, the 62-year-old said, “This dude got on international television and called me a ***hole, somebody who’s been really good to him.” He went on to demand a public apology for Jordan’s offensive remark, “If you didn’t mean it, say it publicly. If you meant it, I understand. I’m good with that.”
In the docuseries ‘The Last Dance’, which covered Chicago Bulls’ last Championship title-winning season, Jordan was seen saying, “There’s no way you can convince me he wasn’t an a**hole”, about his on-court rival, Isiah Thomas. The 6-time NBA Champion also justified that he felt Thomas would have ruined the situation of the Dream Team in Barcelona.
Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas feud explained
The feud between the two NBA greats started in 1985 when Michael Jordan appeared in the All-Star Game for the first time. Isiah Thomas had allegedly planned to “freeze out” MJ and succeeded with the latter scoring only seven points. However, Thomas denied the accusation long ago.
It was just the beginning of the animosity. The two came face-to-face in the coming years with Isiah Thomas having the last laugh to win the 1989, and 1990 NBA Championships. Another glimpse was seen in 2012 when NBA writer Jack McCallum mentioned in his book “Dream Team”, per USA Today, that Jordan influenced the selection committee’s decision to exclude Thomas from the 1992 Dream Team saying, “I don’t want to play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.”
There was one more theory that the former NBA player Brad Sellers sold. Sellers, who played with both of them said, “There’s jealousy in this game, and when you peel back the layers of the onion, a lot of it is territorial. I can’t imagine what that felt like for Zeke, to have an outsider come in and have the entire city behind him. There was no love left for him in Chicago, except from family.”
According to Sellers, the “bigger issue” was about territories, Thomas was from Chicago, Illinois, while Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York. After getting drafted by the Chicago Bulls, Jordan, who was the outsider, became the bigger name in the city, all thanks to his marvelous performance in the franchise. But this didn’t sit well with the Pistons point guard and he kept targeting the 6-time Championship winner in games.
Despite the NBA world having vast knowledge about their rivalry, Isiah Thomas claimed that he was unaware of the feud until he saw the docuseries, ‘The Last Dance’ where Jordan revealed a lot about the animosity.
