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NBA legend Isiah Thomas was one of the best point guards the league has ever seen. He led the infamous ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons in the late 80s and early 90s. Thomas helped the Pistons win back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. And they did it in style by beating NBA legend Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

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They played old-school defensive and physical basketball and smothered their opponents. The ‘Bad Boys’ Pistons were one of the very few teams that could stop Jordan in his stride.

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Among the big names in that Pistons team was John Salley. The Pistons drafted him as the 11th overall pick in 1986 and he was a very useful player in rotation for them. Interestingly, he has also played with Michael Jordan for the Bulls and won a title in 1996.

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During his recent podcast appearance for VladTV, the interviewer asked Salley about the story that circulated at one point about point shaving and the involvement of the FBI.

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Hearing this, Salley looked a bit surprised and asked the interviewer for more information. When the interviewer said that Isiah Thomas was the one involved in the story, Salley couldn’t believe it. He was puzzled and asked, “Are you kidding?”

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Salley teammate of Michael Jordan talks about the alleged involvement of Isiah Thomas in point shaving

John Salley said that he doesn’t believe the involvement of Isiah Thomas in point shaving because of his connections with the FBI. He said, “You know why I don’t right now totally believe that? Isiah’s security guard was federal. Because Isiah’s wife, his father was federal…”

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Then the host talked about a book that came out in 1997 called ‘Money Players inside the new NBA’. Hearing about the book, Salley nodded in acknowledgment that he knew about the book and said “Oh yeah.”

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The host continued that the book talked about Isiah Thomas and James Edwards. And that there was alleged point shaving to pay back large debts that they owe to the mafia.

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Furthermore, he added that the book claims Isiah Thomas needed the money since lost a lot of it during high stake dice games in his home and casinos. The host also said that both the players denied the allegations.

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But when the FBI found out about it, Isiah Thomas was put in front of a grand jury and became the subject of a federal gambling investigation. However, the FBI couldn’t find any evidence. Hearing this, Salley said that he doesn’t believe it. He said, “… I don’t totally believe it. I know the book, I think it was written to make a great movie…” Salley concluded it by saying that it’s funny.

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Written by

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Bagavathi Eswaran

1,520 Articles

Bagavathi Eswaran is a senior NBA writer at EssentiallySports, having a strong passion for the sport since the age of ten. As a former college player, Bagavathi has been following the NBA for more than a decade and has found his calling in writing about the sport. He has used his expertise in covering the NBA, as well as other arenas of the sport, to write more than 1400 articles at ES. Bagavathi's pieces on the increasingly dominant presence of European basketball and those following the journey of women-ballers are particularly noteworthy. Along with being a full-time writer, he is also a part of a group of young coaches groomed as trainers by Junior NBA. Bagavathi has trained players from schools and colleges, as well as underprivileged students who can attend the camps for free.

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Arunaditya Aima

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