Last year, Isiah Thomas’ exclusion from the 1992 Dream Team became a hot topic around the NBA again. After the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan’s docu-series ‘The Last Dance’ premiered, a lot was said about Zeke and his role as a villain for MJ and his team.
He earned a lot of hate around the league thanks to his team’s rough style of play, which got them plenty of enemies. Those enemies turned out to be part of the magical Dream Team, and almost nobody wanted Thomas to be on the roster.
With Jordan leading the way, more players joined him against the all-time great point guard. Larry Bird, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, and more lobbied against the Pistons legend ahead of the 1992 Summer Olympics.
A couple of years ago, Zeke took a shot at Scottie Pippen over this situation, diminishing the Bulls legend’s opinion, saying that it wasn’t as big as Michael Jordan or Larry Bird’s (2:22).
“I don’t mind Michael Jordan saying, ‘I didn’t want Isiah to be on the Dream Team.’ I don’t mind if Larry Bird said, ‘I don’t want Isiah to be on the Dream Team.’ But Scottie Pippen? Man, come on. You can’t say NOTHING. … Man, go to the park.”
The animosity between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons hasn’t faded. We saw that on The Last Dance last year, and seeing what Thomas thought of Pippen, this won’t change anytime soon.
The point guard had to get that off his chest, and he did it big time, calling out Pippen for trying to have a bigger opinion than he actually had.
