- Charles Barkley spoke about Michael Jordan’s role in Isiah Thomas’ exclusion from the 1992 Dream Team
- Jordan had denied he had anything to do with it
- A recording later surfaced where Jordan stated he wouldn’t play if Isiah was on the team
It has been over 30 years now since it happened, but the exclusion of Isiah Thomas from the 1992 Dream Team remains a rather controversial topic. There had always been speculation that Michael Jordan was behind it, although Jordan had denied that being the case.
Charles Barkley was on that team and during an appearance on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, he spoke about Isiah’s exclusion and Jordan’s role in it.
“That’s been a controversy since 92,” Barkley said. “And I’ve said publically, they never asked me personally about Isiah and then Michael I guess had lied for 100 years. Saying he had nothing to do with and then the tape came out. They got Michael on tape saying he wouldn’t play if Isiah is on the team. So, I guess it’s true.”
(starts at 2:13:29 mark):
The tape that Barkley is referring to is an audio recording that was played on The Dream Team Tapes podcast (at the 11:41 mark). It was Jordan speaking about a conversation with Rod Thorn, chairman of the Olympic team selection committee.
“Rod Thorn called me,” Jordan said. “I said, ‘Rod, I won’t play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.’ He assured me. He said, ‘You know what? Chuck doesn’t want Isiah. So, Isiah is not going to be part of the team.'”
While Jordan can still say he never ordered that Thomas shouldn’t be on the team, his comments basically ensured the guard wouldn’t be there. There was no chance that they’d have picked Isiah over Michael Jordan, and that meant excluding him was their only option.
Also, the “Chuck” mentioned on the tapes wasn’t referring to Barkley, but Dream Team head coach Chuck Daly. What makes that so interesting is that Daly had coached Thomas for nine seasons on the Detroit Pistons, and they had won two titles together. It is quite interesting if he indeed didn’t want Isiah on the team, but we’ll unfortunately never find out if that was really the case.
Isiah Thomas Spoke About Michael Jordan’s Role In His Exclusion
Thomas is still quite bitter about the whole situation, and it’s not hard to see why. Many would argue he deserved to be on that team over John Stockton, and the Utah Jazz legend himself stated he did not expect to be picked over Isiah.
Thomas spoke about the whole situation earlier this year, and from his perspective, it appears that Jordan was the reason why he didn’t make it. He added that Michael Jordan should just own it at this point if he was responsible.
For Isiah, the Olympic gold medal would end up being the only thing missing from his resume. He had won the NCAA tournament with Indiana in 1981 to go with his two championships in the NBA in 1989 and 1990 with the Pistons.
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