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Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
Topics: Michael Jordan, NBA, Basketball, Chicago Bulls
Ryan Baldi
The United States basketball line-up at the 1992 Olympics is one of the most talent-rich collection of stars ever assembled in any sport. But there was one notable absentee.
Led by NBA MVPs Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the "Dream Team" cruised to glory at the Barcelona games, beating their opponents by an average of 43.8 points, including a 32-point win over Croatia in the gold-medal game.
Jordan was the star of the show. Fresh off winning his second successive NBA title with the Chicago Bulls, "His Airness" was at the peak of his powers.
And while the famous No.23 – who wore the No.9 jersey at the Olympics – was joined on the team by Bulls co-star Scottie Pippen, one man Jordan refused to be teammates with was Isiah Thomas.
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The iconic point guard who won back-to-back titles with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and '90, Thomas was a forthright and uncompromising individual who often upset his opponents. He and Jordan didn't get along. And an audio clip recorded by journalist and author Jack McCallum captures Jordan revealing his plot to exclude the Detroit star.
"Rod Thorn called me. I said, 'Rod, I won't play if Isiah Thomas is on the team,'" Jordan said. "He assured me. He said, 'You know what? Chuck doesn't want Isiah. So, Isiah is not going to be part of the team.'"
However, Thorn, the executive in charge of putting together the 1992 team, denied any such conversation.
"There was never anything in my conversation with [Jordan] that had to do with Isiah Thomas, period," said Thorn, who was the Chicago Bulls general manager in 1984 when Jordan was drafted. "He said, 'I'll do it.' ... Isiah's name never came up during that conversation. And he never backtracked and said he didn't want to do it from that time on, to those of us in the NBA office."
And in The Last Dance, the 2020 Netflix documentary covering his career, Jordan denied any conspiracy to keep out Thomas.
"The Dream Team, based on the environment and the camaraderie that happened on that team...it was the best harmony," Jordan said. "Would Isiah have made a different feeling on that team? Yes."