NBA legend Scottie Pippen wrote in his book, “Unguarded,” that Isiah Thomas tried to become friends with him in 2020.
However, Pippen wasn’t interested.
“In the spring of 2020, while the doc was being aired, Isiah was interested in the two of us declaring a truce,” Pippen wrote. “He reached out to B. J. Armstrong, who called me: ‘Would you be willing to talk to him?’ B.J. asked. Dude, are you kidding me? When I came into the league, he was never nice to me. Why would I want to meet with him now? Isiah is no fool. He knows better than anyone else how poorly he came across in The Last Dance, and with good reason. I wasn’t about to make it easier for him.”
Thomas and the Detroit Pistons physically hurt Pippen, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. When the Bulls finally beat the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, Thomas and his teammates didn’t shake hands with the Chicago players.
In the summer of 1992, the United States sent NBA players to Barcelona to compete in the Olympics for the first time. Pippen and Jordan were on the team, but Thomas wasn’t selected because Jordan, Pippen and Magic Johnson didn’t want the Pistons star on the roster.
“Looking at his numbers, it would be difficult to argue Isiah wasn’t deserving,” Pippen wrote. “Putting a basketball team together is about more than numbers. It is about chemistry, and with Isiah on the Dream Team, the chemistry would have been horrible.”
In 2018, Pippen and Charles Oakley spoke with actor Michael Rapaport for The Players’ Tribune. Pippen, one of the best small forwards in NBA history, ripped Thomas when Rapport asked him a question about Zeke.
“Don’t nobody know who he is anyway,” Pippen said in the YouTube video. “What am I gonna say? He’s a snake. Just saying.”
Neither Jordan nor Pippen will ever be friends with Thomas. Jordan, though, did call Thomas the second-best point guard in NBA history behind Magic in “The Last Dance.”
“I respect Isiah Thomas’ talent,” Jordan said. “To me, the best point guard of all time is Magic Johnson and right behind him is Isiah Thomas. No matter how much I hate him. I respect his game.”
Thomas won two NBA titles with the Pistons, while Pippen and Jordan won six rings with the Bulls.
Pippen was never friends with Thomas, but he’s no longer on speaking terms with Jordan.
Pippen and Jordan will never be friends again after Pippen admitted in his book that he regretted not giving condolences to Jordan after MJ’s dad, James Jordan, was murdered in 1993.
More must-reads: