Michael Jordan has had countless rivalries along his way to six NBA championships. However, none of them were bigger than Isiah Thomas. The two superstars had a tumultuous history, which began in the late 80s, carried to the early 90s, and continues to date. Michael’s former teammate – John Salley, talked about Michael ensuring people didn’t like Isiah. He would use their common agent – David Falk, who has a net worth of $50,000,000, to spread the hate.
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The rivalry began with the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons facing each other in the Playoffs on multiple occasions. The ‘Bad Boy Pistons’, as they were commonly referred to, brought with them quite a bit of intensity, which often led to brute physicality. After the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons even refused to shake the hands of the Bulls players after being defeated by them, which led Jordan to call Isiah an ‘a**hole’.
John Salley talks about Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas
The rivalry between Jordan and Thomas has been well documented over the years and was also shown in the series, ‘The Last Dance’. John Salley, a teammate of Michael and Isiah, put another spin on the relationship, which was recently shared on Twitter by Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson. According to Salley, the disrespect toward Isiah was a ‘forced narrative’. Here is what he said:
“Because it was a forced narrative. Isiah took the fall when he said he didn’t want to give the ball to Michael. Which, when you watch the game, he gave the ball to Michael the whole time. Michael and I had the same agent and at times, he wanted me not to like Isiah. It was a personal thing.”
Michael Jordan tried to get teammates to dislike @IsiahThomas.
John Salley breaks down why he believes Isiah Thomas is disrespected by many people. pic.twitter.com/dX0aHR02b1
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) September 2, 2023
David Falk represented Michael Jordan, John Salley, along with many other NBA players. The Chicago Bulls superstar was using Falk as a medium to spread hate around Isiah Thomas. Salley also thought it was a personal beef between the superstars and should not have propagated around the league.
Isiah demands a public apology from Jordan
It’s been almost three years since the day Michael Jordan called Isiah Thomas an a**hole on the Netflix documentary – The Last Dance. They say time heals all wounds. But it seems like this wound is still fresh in the Detroit Pistons superstar’s mind. In March of 2023, he appeared as a guest on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast and demanded a public apology from Jordan. Here is the video:
Isiah told the host that if Michael Jordan meant to call him the word, he could leave it as it is. However, if he did not mean to say it, he owes him a public apology. With the negative representation of the Pistons in the Netflix documentary, one shouldn’t expect a cordial relationship any time soon.
