In “The Last Dance,” we saw a number of stars and players speak up about their experience with His Airness. Scottie Pippen, Isiah Thomas, Charles Barkley, and Magic Johnson all made appearances (among others).
One person who was noticeably absent from the doc? Jazz star Karl Malone, who faced off against MJ multiple times in the Finals. He was asked by ESPN to participate in an interview, but he (interestingly) declined.
While we still have yet to find out his reaction to the whole thing, we can gather a pretty solid understanding as to his thoughts on Jordan thanks to a 2019 interview on E60.
Now we know what Karl Malone thinks of Michael Jordan pic.twitter.com/Q7a7QdFHZp
— E60 (@E60) May 20, 2020
He didn’t say much, but he seemed to reject the idea of talking about Jordan. It wasn’t just MJ and, to Karl, it’s his own fault that he lost those Finals.
Malone says he has respect for Jordan, but it doesn’t mean he’s a fan — and he’s not alone in that line of thinking. After the release of the doc, several of Jordan’s former teammates came out to express their disappointment in how they were portrayed and in the things MJ let slip to the media.
It’s for different reasons, sure, but if “The Last Dance” taught us anything, it might be that he wasn’t a friend of everyone — and that not everyone seems to be so high on him as the rest of the community.
