The feud between Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas was all about territory
The beef between MJ and Zeke went beyond basketball.
AUG 27, 2023 3:00 AM EDT
There are a lot of layers to the longstanding feud between NBA icons Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas. While the origin of this beef has been debated for decades, one former teammate of the Chicago Bulls icon believes that the root of this dispute was all about territory.
What started it?
One popular theory is that Thomas conspired to “freeze out” Jordan during the 1985 All-Star Game. Jordan started the game as a rookie but ended up with only seven points. However, Thomas has long denied the allegation, saying, “that never happened.”
Regardless of whether there was truth to the accusation or not, the seeds of animosity were planted then and only grew through their battles in the Eastern Conference and even up to the selection process of the 1992 Dream Team, where Thomas believes Jordan played a role in keeping him off the team.
All about Chicago
Former Bulls big man Brad Sellers, who played for Chicago for three seasons, believes the beef between the two NBA legends is all about territory. Thomas, after all, is the proud son of Chicago, born and raised in the city before getting selected by Detroit in the 1981 NBA Draft. Jordan, on the other hand, is a North Carolina native who eventually made Chicago his own during his unforgettable stint with the Bulls.
“We all heard about what happened at the All-Star Game,” Sellers said. “But the bigger issue was that Isiah was from Chicago, he worked to be one of the top players to represent that city, and Mike came in and eviscerated that.”
Sellers, who ironically played with Thomas later on in his career, said this struck a nerve with the speedy guard.
“There’s jealousy in this game, and when you peel back the layers of the onion, a lot of it is territorial. I can’t imagine what that felt like for Zeke, to have an outsider come in and have the entire city behind him. There was no love left for him in Chicago, except from family,” Sellers added.
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