Understanding the Isiah Thomas vs Michael Jordan rivalry: Why it started and how has it developed since

Recent reports suggest that Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan have reignited their heated relationship. The Detroit Pistons legend was reportedly unhappy with how his relationship with MJ was shown in the popular documentary "The Last Dance." In an interview with Cosmote TV during the Abu Dhabi NBA games in early October, Thomas said:

"When I was watching The Last Dance, I'm sitting there and I'm watching it with my family and I'm thinking everything is good.

"Then this guy comes on television and he says that he hates me and then he calls me an a**hole. Then I proceed to watch a whole documentary about him being an a**hole. I'm like wait a minute, time out. Until I get a public apology, this beef is gonna go on for a long long time, because I'm from the west side of Chicago."

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Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan's rivalry is one of the most compelling and fierce rivalries in NBA history. An on-court rivalry between two superstars rarely persists after they retire. However, this one is different.

Let's look at how the heated rivalry started.

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The timeline of Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan's beef

Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas

According to The Sportster, the beef between Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan started in the 1985 NBA All-Star game. During the game, Jordan noticed that none of the players were passing him the ball too much. This was especially true for Thomas, who clearly expressed no interest in giving the young Bulls star the ball. Since then, there has been some tension between the two.

Their rivalry officially kicked off when the Bulls and the Pistons faced each other in the playoffs. Jordan's Bulls lost three times in four years in the playoffs against the "Bad Boys" Pistons. MJ consistently losing to Thomas' team added more fuel to the fire.

Despite taking physical abuse and losing three years in a row, the Bulls always showed sportsmanship after their series. In the final year of the four-year rivalry, Michael Jordan finally got the win over Thomas. However, the Pistons just walked away without congratulating any of the Bulls' players, blatantly showing the ultimate disrespect.

Since then, Jordan's grudge towards Thomas has grown even bigger. "His Airness" expressed how much he hated him when the 1992 "Dream Team" was formed.

Thomas was undoubtedly the biggest snub since he was the second-best point guard at the time behind Magic Johnson. He accused Jordan of being the reason why he was not selected, despite Jordan's claims that others didn't like him either.

With so much bad blood attached to their rivalry, it's no surprise that both despise each other to this day. Jordan's famous line in his documentary "And I took that personally" is very fitting of how personal their resentment towards one another has become.