Isiah Thomas was left off the 1992 Dream Team, and Michael Jordan has always been held responsible for that. Many people think that if Thomas had been selected for the Barcelona team, Jordan never would have participated. NBA rivals MJ and Zeke had a deep-seated animosity that went beyond the court.

However, His Airness has consistently denied any involvement in Thomas’ Dream Team rejection since the beginning. But his initial denial in 1991—which coincided with USA Basketball revealing the first ten names of the Dream Team members—was satirical.

Jordan said, “If I had anything to do with the selection. I would’ve selected my mother and my sister. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

As previously mentioned, Zeke and MJ’s argument extended beyond their rivalry on the basketball court. As a rookie, Jordan was selected to the All-Star team. However, rather than displaying his impressive dunks and daring drives during the iconic midseason game, Thomas is accused of setting up a “freeze-out” to make Jordan appear bad.

Jordan claimed that he utilized the humiliating event as motivation to defeat the 6-foot-1 guard, despite Isiah’s insistence that there was never such a conspiracy. When MJ and company finally overcame their Pistons slump in 1991, that moment had finally arrived. Zeke led the Pistons in their historic Game 4 walkout and declined to shake hands with the Bulls, which only served to escalate their rivalry.

MJ was always going to be the face of the Dream Team because he was dominating the basketball world that year. He could therefore choose who joined him on the squad. There were plenty of reasons not to want to play with him, especially considering his past with Thomas.

Magic Johnson, the starting point guard for the Dream Team and a close friend of Thomas, provided some support to that theory. Magic claims that Jordan only consented to play for the team after being granted complete freedom to choose his travel companions to Barcelona.

“Michael was all about who was going to be on the team. It was more important…no, make that just as important, for Michael to have a good time as it was to play games,” said Magic. Numerous tales have been told regarding Isiah’s exclusion from that illustrious squad. One of the most contentious stories in NBA history will always be Thomas’ Dream Team exclusion, regardless of whether Mike kept him off that team. It is an incredible part of the storied MJ-Zeke feud.