Michael Jordan still hates NBA franchise 'to this day' 22 years after retirement

Michael Jordan came up against a whole host of different teams in his incredible NBA career but one franchise really grinded his gears to the point where he still hates them now.

'His Airness' is widely considered to be the greatest NBA player of all time, winning six titles with the Chicago Bulls with two different three-peats either side of a spell in baseball.

Jordan combined skill with a mentality that is almost unparalleled and proved to be the key to the greatness.

Given his exceptional ability, other teams had to come up with ways to stop Jordan from getting in the groove and the Detroit Pistons placed great emphasis on methods.

Why does Michael Jordan still hate the Detroit Pistons?

Resorting to rough tactics, their approach was branded The Jordan Rules' and they proved extremely effective.

The Pistons, nicknamed 'the Bad Boys', beat the Bulls in five games in Eastern Conference semifinals in 1988, before defeating them in six games in the conference finals in 1989 and then seven games in the conference finals the following year.

In 'The Last Dance' documentary, Pistons star Isiah Thomas, said the team had to "do everything from a physicality standpoint" to stop Jordan from doing his thing.

But the way they went about it left a bitter taste in the mouth of Jordan, who still hasn't got rid of it 22 years on from retiring.

"Oh, I hated them," Jordan said in Episode three of The Last Dance ESPN documentary.

"And that hate carries even to this day."

Michael Jordan is still not fond of the Pistons. Image: Getty

Jordan said that the Pistons "made it personal" and "physically beat the s***" out of the Bulls.

However, given the ill feelings Jordan had towards the Pistons, finally beating them on the big stage was a career highlight.

In 1991, the Bulls beat the Pistons 4-0 in the conference finals to end their back-to-back championship run and advanced to a showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers, who they defeated 4-1.

With 7.9 seconds left in the fourth game, Thomas and Bill Laimbeer, and Mark Aguirre left the court without shaking hands with the Bulls in what was said to be a response to Jordan previously calling them "undeserving champions".

"But they didn't have to shake our hands," Jordan said on the sweet victory.

"We knew we whipped their ass already, we'd gotten past them, and that, to me, that was better in some ways than winning a championship."

Jordan was named finals MVP after averaging 31.1 points per game. His overall record against the Pistons is 37-33.