A resurfaced interview of Michael Jordan has revealed the NBA star may not have been telling the truth about his involvement in a rival's Olympic Dream Team exclusion.
ESPN's 10-part documentary series 'The Last Dance' explored the tension between Jordan and Detroit Pistons' Isiah Thomas, digging into the infamous walk-offgame in 1991.
Thomas was curiously being left off the 1992 Olympic Dream Team - the first American Olympic side to feature active NBA players.
Jordan continually denied having any involvement in Thomas not making the Dream Team in the documentary, saying he never asked for Thomas to be excluded. The former Piston had a different take, believing His Airness played a major role in his snub.
Now, sportswriter Jack McCallum has revealed a past interview with Jordan on his podcast 'The Dream Team Tapes' that suggests he may not have been telling the whole truth.
"[Selection committee member] Rod Thorn called me. I said, 'Rod, I won't play if Isiah Thomas is on the team'," Jordan can be heard saying.
"He assured me. He said, 'You know what? Chuck [Daly, USA coach] doesn't want Isiah. So, Isiah is not going to be part of the team'."
Thomas wasn't going to the Olympics if Jordan had his way. Photo / Getty
McCallum said some could argue Utah Jazz star John Stockton was just as good as Thomas, but that it wasn't the most legitimate argument.
"Please, in the year of our Lord 1991, there was no one who was going to pick Isiah Thomas over Michael Jordan. It's that simple," McCallum said.
Thorn recently denied that Jordan had anything to do with the decision to leave Thomas off the team.
In 'The Last Dance,' Jordan expressed how disrespected he felt when the Pistons left the floor after losing the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals without shaking the Bulls' hands.
When asked about the snub in the docu-series, Thomas said he thought "all of us would make a different decision" if given a do-over.
"We would have done it, of course we would have done it. But during that period of time, that's just not how it was passed. When you lost, you left the floor – that was it," he said.
Jordan, however, still didn't buy it.
"I know it's all bulls***," Jordan said in 'The Last Dance.' "Whatever he says now, you know it wasn't his true actions then."
