Michael Wilbon is apologizing to Isiah Thomas for a comment he made about why the Detroit Pistons legend was not a member of the 1992 Olympic Team.
In The Last Dance documentary, Wilbon who was interviewed for the piece noted that Isiah had various beef with players on the team. He mentioned Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird as examples. But the ESPN host took it a step further in an interview on ESPN’s The Jump with Rachel Nichols.
Of the 12 players on the team, Wilbon said that 9 of them did not want to play with Isiah. Wilbon is now retracting that statement and setting the record straight.
“My apologies to Isiah Thomas… multiple sources reached out to tell me I’m dead wrong to say 9 members of the Dream Team objected to Isiah being on the ’92 Olympic team. Nowhere near that number objected.”
It had long been rumored that Michael Jordan kept Thomas off the Dream Team, a claim that Mike denies on the documentary. In what was probably the greatest Olympic basketball team in United States history, analysts have debated whether or not Isiah Thomas should’ve made the team instead of Utah Jazz Point Guard John Stockton.
In 1992, Isiah Thomas was averaging 17 points and 8 assists per game. The younger Stockton was averaging 15 points and 12 assists and almost 2.5 steals a game.
While Wilbon’s statement was “dead wrong” it’s not untrue that Thomas and the “Bad Boy” Pistons made enemies in the NBA with their aggressive, pugnacious style of play that led them to back to back titles in 1989-1990.
