In Audio From Old Interview, Michael Jordan Says He Wouldn’t Play On Dream Team With Isiah Thomas

Thomas’ Detroit Piston teams were fiercely competitive with Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the late 1980s and early ’90s, with Detroit eliminating Chicago from the playoffs in consecutive seasons.

However, Jordan and the Bulls finally defeated their bitter rivals in a clean, four-game sweep in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals.

With seconds remaining in the decisive Game 4, most of the Pistons players, including Thomas, walked off the court without shaking the Bulls’ hands.

This infuriated Jordan, and he has never hidden his disdain; in episode 4 of The Last Dance, Jordan declares, “There’s no way you can convince me [Thomas] wasn’t an a—hole.”

Jordan, the most popular athlete in the world at the time, assuredly could have influenced the construction of the roster.

Yet Jordan has always denied being responsible for keeping Thomas off the Dream Team; “You want to attribute it to me, go ahead and be my guest. But it wasn’t me,” Jordan said in The Last Dance.

However, in the third episode of his podcast, “The Dream Team Tapes,” author Jack McCallum released audio Monday evening of Jordan saying: “Rod Thorn called me. I said, ‘Rod, I won’t play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.’ He assured me. He said, ‘You know what? [Coach] Chuck [Daly] doesn’t want Isiah. So, Isiah is not going to be part of the team.'”