Charles Barkley has offered up his two cents on the greatest mystery about the 1992 Dream Team, and he is also pointing the finger at NBA icon Michael Jordan.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the 1992 United States Olympic men’s basketball team is the greatest assemblage of talent the game has ever seen. It had legends like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, and was so good that Hall-of-Famers like Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone didn’t get a regular starting role during their run to a gold medal.
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While Christian Laettner should not have been on the roster, for the most part, there were few issues with the players that made the final team, except for one: John Stockton. The Utah Jazz legend is one of the best point guards of all time and certainly would have been under consideration for a spot, but most NBA fans felt Detroit Pistons great Isiah Thomas should have been on that squad.
However, he was the biggest omission and there have been rumblings for years about why he was left off the legendary roster. Rumors have suggested that Jordan used his leverage as the best player in the world to make sure his Pistons rival was not on the team. During a recent chat on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast, Charles Barkley did little to dispute those rumors.
“I think he was a better player than John Stockton,” Barkley said when asked about the Thomas omission. “Well, you know, I am so glad I get to straighten this s*** out. No. 1, they never asked me about Isiah Thomas. And I can’t speak for the other guys but they never asked me about Isiah Thomas and [he] probably should have been on the team.
“They asked Michael Jordan if he had anything to do with it, and it just came out in the last year when he said ‘I’ll play as long as Isiah don’t play.’ I think it was [former Sports Illustrated writer] Jack McCallum who said he had [Jordan’s response] on tape,” he added. “I’ve been asked that question 1,000 times. They never asked me about Isiah Thomas, but apparently, Michael didn’t want him on the team.”
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While we may never get a definitive answer on one of the weirdest mysteries about the 1992 Dream Team, all signs point to Jordan’s epic pettiness being the biggest culprit. His Chicago Bulls teams warred with the Pistons for several years in the playoffs before they finally broke through by beating Detroit and beginning their first three-peat.
