The Last Dance: Did a Laker keep Isiah Thomas off the Dream Team?

Isiah Thomas has replaced Jerry Krause as the villain of the Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance”. The drama shifts to why Isiah Thomas was left off the original Dream Team back in 1992. People will blame Michael Jordan. They are wrong. A Lakers legend helped keep him out. Lake Show Life looks at the reality of the situation.

Jerry Krause, you are dismissed. Isiah Thomas take your position where Mr. Krause was, thank you. 

The Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” has lived up to the hype. Whether it is for better or worse depends on who you ask. In the ultimate sports purgatory in all of our lifetimes, ESPN’s greatest single production has so many facets that it has to be watched multiple times just to get a full understanding of what’s being shown in front of viewers.

To be honest, we all can’t get past having some NBA content so being so gleeful over watching something fresh and new. With that being said, certain narratives are starting to seep in that fans and some sports talk figures are starting to move to the untruth stage.

What’s even more alarming is these stories have already been covered in articles and other documentaries for years. The rest should be figured out with life experiences and common sense.

Folks, this documentary is so huge that two women made the sports news cycle that has absolutely no business being anywhere near it.

1. Larsa Pippen: Scottie Pippen’s ex-wife, who spoke out about her ex-husband’s seven-year $18 million contract. The backlash she got on Twitter alone was news. For those reasons, feel free to Google search the divorce.
2. Carmen Electra: Dennis Rodman’s ex-wife (For like 9 days!) talking about the partying lifestyle of Rodman in those days. A few days later, actual articles of “antics” around the Bulls facilities were actually published. 

In short, if you want to find 15 minutes of fame or a lifetime of infamy brought back up, Sunday nights on ESPN at 9:00 PM EST is the place to be. Sadly for Isiah Thomas, it has been the latter for the last couple of weeks.

All of this started the morning after Episode 4 of “The Last Dance” explaining the rivalry between the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. Isiah Thomas apologized to the city of Detroit for his team’s behavior after losing the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. During an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up,” Thomas said it also “personally hurt” him to be left off the 1992 Dream Team.

The Sunday prior to the broadcast, Jordan had the quote that started it all with Isiah’s explanation.

"“I know it’s all bulls—,” Michael Jordan said before he even looked at the iPad, (Video shown here via Awful Announcing. Warning: Strong language!) “Whatever [Isiah Thomas] says now, you know it wasn’t his true actions then. [He’s had] time enough to think about it, or the reaction of the public that’s changed his perspective. … You can show me anything you want. There’s no way you can convince me he wasn’t an a–hole.”"

The next episodes came out the next weekend about the Dream Team being assembled. Isiah Thomas got about 6 seconds in two hours. The internet reminded everyone why social media is a brutal place at times. This statement turned into a joke for captions with his quote.

"“I met the criteria to be selected [for the Dream Team], but I wasn’t.”"

What wasn’t a joke was Isiah Thomas didn’t get invited to the greatest basketball event in Olympic, NBA, heck even sports event in history.

Before this discussion gets started, let’s go over the list of things real NBA fans should have known before Sunday night.

• The name on the marquee and face of the team was Michael Jordan. We all know that.  
• Isiah Thomas was already raked over the coals in the 20th anniversary of the 1992 “Dream Team’’ documentary explaining  how he was left out.
• It long has been speculated Jordan kept Thomas off the club, but the documentary reveals the snub ran deeper. Jordan’s Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen also said he didn’t want Thomas. Much more on that later.
• The controversy of Thomas’ exclusion was exacerbated based on the fact that Isiah’s Pistons coach, Chuck Daly was the Dream Team coach.  

What is shocking is the “surprise” of many that Michael Jordan still has bad blood with Isiah Thomas. Honestly, it’s shocking that Isiah is one of the many that is surprised. Michael Jordan’s grudges are just as famous as his Hall of Fame career.

You’ve read all of the “Conspiracy theories from the clueless”. Ready for the reality?

Lake Show Life will show the sports world that Michael Jordan DID NOT seal Isiah Thomas’ fate for the Dream Team. There were plenty of suspects that may have supported the end of Thomas’ chances. Over the next several pages, we will  try to lay it out according to the facts.

Let’s start with the number one suspect.