Michael Jordan talks to reporters. Photo / Getty Images.
Even after 10 epic episodes of the highly acclaimed The Last Dance documentary, Michael Jordan has some explaining to do.
The NBA legend's docu-series has now been released in its entirety — answering some of the biggest mysteries of the Chicago Bulls' sixth NBA Championship win in 1998, while also creating fresh new conspiracy theories.
The hit show has been slammed by star teammates, including superstar Scottie Pippen, who has claimed he was portrayed unfairly in the series.
Teammate Horace Grant has also accused Jordan of being a "damn snitch" and a liar with some of his claims made in the series.
Grant is far from the only one.
Sam Smith, the author of The Jordan Rules and a former Chicago Tribune writer also claims Jordan told "complete and blatant lies" during the series.
"There were several things in the documentary that I saw, I would know, that he made up or he lied about," Smith told 95.7 The Game radio.
"They weren't major things, but it was like when a TV movie comes on and they say, 'This is based on a true story.' That's what that was. It was based on a true story."
Senior reporters at The Ringer on Friday revealed six "lies" Jordan is accused of telling during the series.
Senior reporters Joe House and Jason Concepcion couldn't help but laugh at some of Jordan's brazen claims during an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast on Friday (AEST).
Here are the six lies, called out by the pair.
No. 1 — I don't have a gambling problem, I have a competition problem
The subject of Jordan's gambling habits is never directly addressed in the series — other than the moment the legend dismisses the swirling rumours that his first break from basketball was the result of his serious gambling problems.
"The interview of him with the sunglasses on, denying he had a gambling problem is iconic," Concepcion told the NBA commentator's podcast.
No. 2 — I never pushed Byron Russell in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals
Byron Russell last week reiterated his claim that Jordan's famous game-winning jump shot with five seconds left in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Utah should never have been allowed to happen.
The Jazz star has always claimed Jordan pushed him as the Bulls inbounded the ball. Jordan's push allowed him the space he needed to ultimately shoot an uncontested jump shot and seal the Bull's sixth championship. The scene created the iconic image of Jordan's last ever bucket in Bulls colours.
No. 3 — Jordan gets brutal revenge for 'Nice game' smack talk
Michael Jordan conceded in the documentary that his savage revenge on former Washington star LaBradford Smith was all made up in his own head.
Smith famously went berserk one night in Chicago during the 1993 season where he dropped 37 points on Jordan, despite the Bulls winning. It became part of basketball folklore that Smith went up to shake Jordan's hand after the game and threw some shade at Jordan by simply saying, "Nice game".
Jordan was reported to have been so fired up by the sly disrespect that he promised to match Smith's scoring performance in the first half of their next encounter — which just happened to be the very next day.
Jordan dropped 36 points in the first half, before taking a back seat in the second half to finish with 47 points in a 126-101 win for the Bulls.
Jordan has since admitted he made the whole thing up.
"This is outed as a lie," Concepcion says.
"The very casual reveal that the whole LaBradford Smith, 'Nice game Mike' story just never happened and that Michael had just promulgated this conspiracy theory for a number of years before going, 'Yeah, that didn't happen. I said that just so he would get fired up'. It calls into question all these other stories."
No. 4 — I did not keep Isiah Thomas from the Dream Team
In the early 90s, the Detroit Pistons were the baddest, most physical team in the NBA — and they deliberately went too far with some of the punishment they dished out to Jordan.
Isiah Thomas, the Pistons' biggest star, and Jordan have never reconciled their differences. Their feud is one of the longest running in basketball.
According to reports at the time, Thomas was left out of the US Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics — a team that went on to win gold.
Jordan has always claimed he did not directly influence the decision from selectors for Thomas to be overlooked.
Concepcion claims the reality is very different.
"Come on. According to the letter of the law, it is accurate. According to the sprit of the law, I would argue it is quite something else," he said.
"Mike absolutely had the leverage to keep Zeke (Thomas) off the team and had to know that when he mentioned that he didn't care for Isiah, that this was on the table for Isiah. He had to know that.
Simmons said Jordan isn't necessarily lying.
"Here's how it actually played out," he said.
"The hatred between the two of them was enough at that point, that they know he (Jordan) is not playing if Isiah's on the team. So in a weird way he's not lying because he never said it… but they knew he would never play with Isiah."
No. 5 — Every Bull except for me was doing drugs and hanging out with women in a hotel room
Jordan insists in the documentary he stayed away from the crowd within the Bulls' locker room that abused drugs and partied with women in hotel rooms when on the road.
In an early episode of the Netflix series, the Bulls team is labelled a "cocaine circus" during Jordan's rookie year with the team.
Despite Jordan's denials, The Ringer's reporters claim it is "suspect" Jordan stood up to senior teammates and refused to join the late night partying.
"So they open up the door, I walk in and practically the whole team was in there. And it was like things I've never seen in my life as a young kid," Jordan said of the first time he spotted his teammates partying in a hotel room.
"You got your lines (of drugs) over here, you got your weed smokers over here and you got your women over here.
"So the first thing I said was, 'Look, man, I'm out'. Because all I can think about is if they come and raid this place right about now, I am just as guilty as everybody else in this room. And from that point on, I was more or less on my own."
No. 6 — I was poisoned by a pizza during NBA Finals
Michael Jordan was famously under the weather when he dropped 38 points to help the Bulls win 90-88 in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz.
He reported with flu like symptoms the night before the game in Utah, but still turned it on when it mattered.
The story has been immortalised under the name "The Flu Game" — but Jordan in The Last Dance delivers a new take on the iconic story.
He claims he was poisoned by a bad pizza — and was suffering food poisoning when he tore the Jazz to pieces.
Concepcion says it is unlikely Jordan ordered a pizza and asked for it to be delivered to his team's hotel room in Utah — and put the order under his own name.
Jordan claims in the doco that five men showed up to his room with the pizza — and believes it was spiked.
"I ate the pizza," Jordan said in the documentary.
"All by myself. Nobody else ate the pizza. I wake up about 2:30am throwing up left and right. It really wasn't the flu game. It was food poisoning."
However, a man who claims to have made and delivered the pizza earlier this month insisted Jordan is mistaken.
Craig Fite, who was a Bulls fan living in Utah, says as an assistant manager at a local Pizza Hut restaurant he delivered it himself — and insists it was a healthy "large, thin and crispy, extra pepperoni pizza".
"That's a bunch of crap," Fite told 1280 The Zone radio in Utah.
"Sorry, we were five creepy looking guys that the guy felt threatened? I guess you have to sell your book but it really wasn't that exciting.
"There were two of us. I didn't even have that many people working [at the Pizza Hut].
"I remember saying this, 'I will make the pizza, because I don't want any of you doing anything to it'.
"And then I told the driver, 'You're going to take me there. And it'll be my first delivery.'"
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