Apparently, Michael Jordan did request that Isiah Thomas not be a part of the ‘Dream Team’

4 years ago

You didn’t think The Last Dance was the end of the Michael Jordan–Isiah Thomas feud, did you?

On Tuesday, the saga between the two former superstars got a little deeper, when longtime Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum released the third episode of his podcast, The Dream Team Tapes.

And on that third episode was the bombshell we’d all been anticipating.

Now, we’re sure you’re probably asking yourself, why is this a bombshell report? It was made clear in The Last Dance, ESPN’s recently aired 10-part docuseries chronicling the Chicago Bulls’ rise to prominence in the 1990s, that Jordan was no fan of Thomas, then and now.

However, in the documentary, Jordan was quoted as saying, “I didn’t keep Isiah off the Dream Team.” In fact, he went further than that:

“Before the ’92 Olympics, Rod Thorn calls me and says, ‘We would love for you to be on the Dream Team … I say, ‘Who’s all playing?’ He says, ‘What does that mean?’ I say, ‘Who’s all playing?’ He says, ‘Well, the guy you’re talking about or you’re thinking about, he’s not going to be playing.’

“I respect Isiah Thomas’ talent. To me, the best point guard of all time is Magic Johnson and right behind him is Isiah Thomas. No matter how much I hate him, I respect his game. Now, it was insinuated that I was asking about him, but I never threw his name in there.”

But on his podcast, McCallum played an audio recording of Jordan saying something very different:

“They called me to ask me to play. Rod Thorn called me. I said, ‘I won’t play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.’ He assured me. He said, ‘You know what – Chuck doesn’t want Isiah on the team. So Isiah’s not gonna be a part of the team.”

Quite the revelation from McCallum – does it make Jordan look bad, considering he previously said he had nothing to do with Thomas being left off the team?

Former NBA center Kendrick Perkins had some harsh words for Jordan, while pointing out that his main GOAT rival LeBron James now also has the advantage over Jordan in the ‘truth department.’

“I’m glad that Michael Jordan is your GOAT and LeBron James is my GOAT. I don’t have to deal with a liar. Michael Jordan made everyone watch The Last Dance and it made him look like a superhero and everybody else look like a villain.”

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst took some issue with Jordan’s apparently contradictory statements, but also said that when you’re Michael Jordan, you’ve earned the right to create the narrative.

“I still like the documentary but I will say that Sam Smith, who pretty much wrote the book on Jordan, has also made accusations of Jordan bending the truth in The Last Dance. But listen, when you’re the GOAT, you get to make the documentary. You get to make the rules.”

Sam Smith is the author of the 1992 book The Jordan Rules, which tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1990-91 Chicago Bulls championship season.

With the release of The Last Dance, Smith has once again found himself in the spotlight as an authority on Jordan and the Bulls. In a few recent interviews, Smith was candid in saying that context was often left out of the documentary at certain crucial points, one of which was the infamous Detroit Pistons walk-off at the conclusion of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals.

Well, as Smith remembers, there was more to the walk-off, and he shared the full story with Hoops Hype earlier this month when asked if he wished The Last Dance had given more context regarding any specific issue.

There were parts here and there where I thought some context might have been left out, like with the Pistons’ walk-out. I was there and I would have loved to have seen [this]: We were sitting in a group around Jordan and he just eviscerated the Pistons when the Bulls were up 3-0. He called them unworthy champions, terrible people, an embarrassment to the NBA… And it went on for, like, a half hour. It was just stunning. And I know that’s what prompted that walk-out because the Pistons’ players didn’t know about it until the next day, basically … I’m sure it was calculated in part by Michael to provoke them even more and rub it in, which was his specialty over the years. Things like that, which I saw, [would be great] for context there…

Going back to Thomas’s omission from the Dream Team and McCallum’s release of Jordan’s quoted feelings on the matter, Shannon Sharpe is in the camp that believes Jordan has been blatantly untruthful this entire time.

“Am I supposed to believe Michael Jordan or my lying ears? … Ya lied. Rod Thorn sat up there and told a boldface lie. If [Jordan] didn’t explicitly say [he didn’t want Thomas on the team], he implicitly implied it. Come to find out, he said it!”

Rod Thorn was the former general manager of the Chicago Bulls and selected Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft. He also served as chairman for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team Selection Committee in 1992, overseeing the composition of the Dream Team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

In The Last Dance, Thorn came to the defense of Jordan, saying that MJ didn’t specifically ask for Isiah to not be on the team and that prior to asking Jordan to join the Dream Team, it had already been decided that Thomas would not be going to the Olympics.

Then, in early May, he appeared on Golic and Wingo and doubled down on his conversation with Jordan during the Dream Team selection process.

“There was never anything in my conversation with [Jordan] that had to do with Isiah Thomas. Period. He said, ‘I’ll do it.”

Clearly, that doesn’t look to be the case.

NBA analyst Doris Burke shared her thoughts regarding Jordan and Thorn’s role in Thomas being left off of the Dream Team, saying that something is amiss in the story, but that Jordan shouldn’t shoulder the blame entirely.

“There were moments during that documentary where I was uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable for Jerry Krause, for Scottie Pippen and for Isiah Thomas … Cleary, either Michael or Rod Thorn is not telling the complete truth. Here’s the fact of the matter – to me, there are more people culpable than just Michael Jordan. He had enormous sway, but there were other decision-makers involved.”

Now, according to Jordan, via McCallum’s audio recording, Thorn told him that former Pistons coach Chuck Daly didn’t want Thomas to be a part of the Dream Team either.

In addition, earlier this month, Dream Team point guard and NBA legend Magic Johnson said that several players had issues with Thomas, which contributed to him not being on the team.

“You have to be with each other for two months, and there was four or five guys who just had problems with [Thomas]. He was unfortunately not going to be a part of the Dream Team because of those problems, because we all had to live with each other for two months, practice with each other, hang out with each other, all those things.”

And on Tuesday, Colin Cowherd supported Johnson’s assessment regarding Thomas’s omission, saying that even if it were Jordan alone that didn’t want Isiah on the team, Isiah made his own bed.

“There were a lot of people that didn’t like the Pistons style of basketball or Isiah Thomas … Jack McCallum said Michael did not what Isiah Thomas on the team and that’s that. So what? So what? LeBron James didn’t want certain Lakers on his team two years ago and got them traded. That’s not a 3-week exhibition. That’s the league!”

The truth is, just like the feud between Jordan and Thomas, this story seems to have no end in sight.

In terms of what else is the truth?

Your guess is as good as ours.

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