Former Detroit Pistons guard Isiah Thomas criticized Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls for how former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause was treated in the documentary “The Last Dance.”
"The disrespect they showed for him, I was blown away"
—@IsiahThomas tells @Money23Green about the 'cringe worthy' depiction of Jerry Krause in The Last Dance pic.twitter.com/UKwbr3MvHG
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 14, 2024
“The way they treated Jerry Krause and the disrespect that they showed for him, I was blown away, totally blown away,” Thomas said. “To watch how they treated him and the disrespect and lack of respect that they gave him as a person and as a man. It was cringeworthy watching that. I cringed for him and his family.”
Thomas and Jordan have butted heads in the past. Back in 2022, Thomas responded to Jordan calling him an a–hole in one of the documentary’s episodes.
“I was upset,” said Thomas. “I was highly upset.”
Krause spent nearly two decades as an executive with the Bulls. He served as the team’s general manager for all six of the title teams led by Michael Jordan.
Chicago’s six titles came in the years 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
Krause’s final season as general manager of the Bulls came in the 2002-03 season, when the team was far removed from the halcyon days of Jordan and Scottie Pippen and ended the regular season with a poor 30-52 record.
The former general manager died at the age of 77 back in 2017, over a decade after his long stint in the Bulls’ front office came to an end.
Thomas and the Pistons were a thorn in the Bulls’ side earlier in Jordan’s career. The Pistons won titles in 1989 and 1990, and Detroit beat the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals during both of those title runs.
In the 1989 series, the Pistons eliminated Jordan’s Bulls in six games. In the following playoffs, the Bulls gave Detroit even more of a run for its money, as it took seven games for the Pistons to eliminate Chicago.
But fast forward to the 1991 playoffs, and Jordan and the Bulls got their revenge against the Pistons. Chicago swept Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals and subsequently beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals to secure the Bulls their first NBA title in franchise history.
There has seemingly been ill will between Thomas and Jordan for years now, and the former’s recent comments only add more fuel to the fire in this beef.
