“When Michael Jordan Said he Hated me, we Were All Shocked”: Isiah Thomas Felt Blindsided By A**hole Comments on The Last Dance

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Detroit Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas, were the biggest rivals of Michael Jordan and his Bulls.

The two teams faced each other in four consecutive Eastern Conference Finals from 1988 to 1991, with the Pistons winning three of those series.

The most infamous moment in the relationship between Thomas and Jordan came during the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. After the Bulls defeated the Pistons in a four-game sweep, the Pistons walked off the court without shaking hands with the Bulls players.

This was a clear violation of a long-standing NBA tradition. Isiah later claimed that it was motivated by the Pistons’ frustration with the officiating in the series.

Jordan had been the victim of many of the Pistons’ rough tactics over the years. He took the snub personally and has spoken out against Thomas and the Pistons in interviews and on The Last Dance.

Isiah Thomas was shocked by Michael Jordan calling him an a**hole on The Last Dance

The 2-time NBA champion was recently interviewed by The Detroit News. The full version of their interaction is scheduled to come out on Sunday.

In the interview, the Bad Boys’ leader reiterated that he felt betrayed due to his portrayal in The Last Dance. While the friction between the Pistons and the Bulls is among the most storied rivalries in the league, he seemed to feel that he’d left all of that behind. Some excerpts are:

“I talked for two hours to their producers, and I still have all the emails and everything else, from his producer, from Jordan and everybody else.”

“So, when we sat down and watch ‘The Last Dance’ during COVID, we were all pretty excited to see it. When he came on and called me an a***ole, and then said he hated me, we were all shocked.”

“It was kind of like he just went off on everybody. Nobody ever got on TV and said they hated me and called me an a***ole – especially after my family and your family have been socializing for years.”

“I went out to dinner several times — me, him and Ahmad (Rashad) — when I was working at NBC.”

This isn’t the first time he’s talked about being blindsided by how he’s depicted in the award-winning documentary series. However, he does seem to be quite aggrieved by it even today – years after the series was released during the Covid-19 pandemic.

How friendly were Thomas and MJ?

In recent years, Thomas and Jordan have been more open about their relationship and the challenges they faced during their playing days. In a 2017 interview with ESPN’s “The Jump,” Thomas spoke about his admiration for Jordan and the impact that Jordan had on the game of basketball.

Jordan, for his part, has acknowledged the role that Thomas and the Pistons played in shaping his approach to the game and his eventual success.