Isiah Thomas is one of the most controversial basketball players of all time. He was the ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons leader, earning a bad reputation around the league with their questionable style of play.
Recently, Reggie Miller talked about Zeke and his personality on the court, agreeing with his nemesis Michael Jordan on one thing: they couldn’t stand the 2x NBA champion.
As we all know now, MJ can’t stand Thomas and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. It was the same for Miller, who hated that Isiah would smile and talk to you like you were the best of friends before hitting you in the next play (0:21).
“I couldn’t stand him, it is that central division, couldn’t stand him like MJ. He would be smiling all in your face acting like he’s your friend and stuff, taking the biggest cheap shots ever and one of the toughest point guards,” said Miller on The Dan Patrick Show.
Isiah made plenty of enemies during his playing days, even though things changed after the Detroit Pistons legend retired from the game. In the 1990 playoffs, he faced the Reggie Miller-led Indiana Pacers, sweeping them in the first round.
Besides those plays and cheap shots, Zeke used to trash talk players like Larry Bird, Jordan and Magic Johnson. Unfortunately, things went so wrong for him that he didn’t get the call for the 1992 Dream Team, where all these players played, earning the gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics.
Things would have gone different for Thomas, but his reputation was bigger than his desire to represent the country.
