Throughout the 1980s, Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers were the dominant force in the NBA. However, in the latter half of the decade, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls emerged as future challengers to their throne. At this time, Jordan and Johnson were the two most popular players in the league. Broadcasters saw the opportunity to use their star power and create a spectacle unlike any other. In the book Michael Jordan: The Life, author Roland Lazenby wrote about a million-dollar idea that would have pitted the NBA’s present against its future, something that had the Bulls superstar salivating,
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“In 1990, promoters planned to stage a one-on-one game between Johnson and Jordan for pay-per-view television. Jordan, who had spent his life challenging people to one-on-one, found the idea immediately fetching.”
However, Detroit Pistons superstar and the NBA Players’ Association president, Isiah Thomas, convinced the NBA to step in and nix the event, which incensed Jordan deeply. Lazenby wrote,
“Jordan lashed out at Thomas’s intervention, charging that the Detroit guard was jealous because no one would pay to see him play.”
Jordan could be right. Thomas and the Pistons had won the NBA title in 1989 and 1990. They beat Johnson and the Lakers in 1989 in the Finals and outlasted Jordan and the Bulls in the 1989 and 1990 Eastern Conference Finals. Thomas won the Finals MVP in each of the Pistons’ title wins.
Despite being the best player on the back-to-back title-winning team, Thomas’ popularity was usurped by Jordan and Johnson’s fandom. He likely felt dismayed at promoters picking players he beat en route to his championships as the face of the marquee one-on-one event. It’s unclear if that was the case. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was.
Michael Jordan got his shot at Magic Johnson
Isiah Thomas stood in Michael Jordan’s way in his quest to face Magic Johnson on the court. Thomas and the Pistons beat the Bulls in the 1988 Eastern Conference Finals, preventing a Jordan and Johnson showdown in the NBA Finals. In 1990, he nixed the one-on-one event, much to the Bulls superstar’s ire.
However, Thomas and the Pistons were powerless in stopping Jordan in 1991. Jordan and the Bulls swatted away Detroit 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Jordan averaged 29.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, seven assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.8 blocks to lead Chicago to their maiden NBA Finals appearance.
There, they met Johnson and the Lakers. Like the East’s championship series, the NBA Finals was a one-sided affair. Jordan and the Bulls hammered Johnson and the Lakers 4-1 en route to their first NBA title. Jordan was unplayable. He averaged 31.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 2.8 steals, and 1.4 blocks, leading Chicago to the promised land.
The series was a passing of the torch from Johnson to Jordan as the best basketball player in the world and the face of the NBA. The Bulls superstar did not get his one-on-one match against the Lakers icon in 1990. However, when they faced off in the Finals in 1991, Jordan got the better of Johnson.
