Detroit Pistons: Michael Jordan Lied about Isiah Thomas

Audio has surfaced of Michael Jordan saying that he wouldn’t play on the Dream Team if Isiah Thomas was there.

Now that ESPN’s ten-part documentary, “The Last Dance”, which detailed the rise of Michael Jordan and the 1990’s Chicago Bulls is over, many former teammates and opponents are expressing their disappointment and frustration with what Jordan said and how the series depicted many of them.

According to ESPN 1000’s David Kaplan, Scottie Pippen is  “beyond livid” with Jordan since he feels that he was portrayed to be so self-centered and was a target of blame.

Horace Grant also told Kaplan that Jordan lied about numerous moments throughout the documentary, especially about the tension that arose due to Sam Smith’s book “The Jordan Rules”.

Grant goes as far as calling Jordan a snitch himself saying “I mean if you want to call somebody a snitch, that’s a damn snitch right there.” But for the Detroit Pistons fans, one lie should stick out even more and that’s when Jordan talks about the Dream Team and his feud with “Bad Boys” leader Isiah Thomas.

In episode five of the series, the 1992 Dream Team was in the spotlight for the majority of the episode.

After episode three had detailed the chronicles of Jordan and the Bulls having to battle with the Isiah Thomas led Detroit Pistons, Michael Jordan made it very clear that he hated everything about the Bad Boys and wanted nothing to do with them once the Bulls finally eliminated the Pistons in the 1991 ECF.

But once the Dream Team was brought up, Jordan was asked the question many fans have been waiting to be answered: Did Michael Jordan say that he was not going to play unless Isiah Thomas was kept off the Dream Team?

Jordan answered saying that he did want Thomas on the Dream Team but did not tell Olympic Committee Chairman, Rod Thron and head coach Chuck Daly explicitly that he did not want Thomas on the team. So that seemed to settle the debate: Jordan did not want Thomas on the team but never said it explicitly at that time to sway the committee’s decision making.

More from PistonPowered

• Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
• Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
• The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
• Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
• Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?

But that seems to be another lie told by Jordan in the documentary.

In Jack McCallum’s podcast The Dream Team Tapes, he reveals audio from 2011 when he went to interview Jordan about the Dream Team. During that interview, Jordan said the following pertaining to the Isiah Thomas situation:  “Rod Thorn called me. I said, ‘Rod, I won’t play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.’ He assured me”.

This adds another accusation to the list of apparent lies from the documentary. So, why did Jordan lie in “The Last Dance”?

And even more importantly, what else did Jordan lie about throughout the series? These questions are hard to answer, but they should cast a shadow over the whole documentary and about what should be reputable.

By all accounts, Isiah Thomas deserved to be on the Dream Team, just by his accolades alone. He was a two-time NBA champion, 12-time All-Star, and was one of the best players in one of the best generations in basketball.

The only reason he was left off was that Michael Jordan himself told Thorn not to put him on the team. Jordan would not be who he is today without the battles he endured against Thomas and the Pistons.

While he did admit that he does respect Thomas, his own selfishness kept Thomas from being a part of one of the most historic teams in basketball history.