A Look At Why Michael Jordan Can’t Stand Isaiah Thomas

As we all know, after watching several episodes of the Last Dance Now (it’s a safe bet most readers here are either watching or are sick of hearing about it), Michael Jordan clearly does not like Isaiah Thomas. He uses a particular seven-letter word to describe him.

But why?

Here’s a bit of background from someone other than Jordan.

Several people actually.

You get a bit of perspective from Isaiah himself and some other contemporaries.

No doubt there was some friction between the two of them. Thomas, undeniably brilliant on the court and highly charismatic, has always come across as smarmy and a bit devious. So that is probably part of it.

Given Jordan’s endlessly competitive nature though, it probably has more to do with the difficulty the Bulls had in surpassing the Pistons. Like most great athletes, Thomas has a bit of swagger and arrogance and for Jordan, not being able to vanquish him quickly must have been maddening. Toss in Thomas’s tendency to be a bit underhanded, the Pistons’ well-documented habit of playing dirty and Jordan’s need to create reasons to destroy opponents and you can kind of understand how their relationship couldn’t have developed any other way.