Not Michael Jordan, But This NBA Star Had the Ugliest Beef with Isiah Thomas

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The rivalry between NBA legends Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas is one of the most iconic in the league. The two Hall of Famers locked horns on multiple occasions during their time in the NBA. Jordan and the Chicago Bulls found it hard to move past Isiah and the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference during the late 80s. As detroit won two straight titles, the Bulls lost to the Pistons in two straight playoff encounters. Bulls fans wondered whether they will ever beat the seasoned Pistons. Furthermore, the physical defense of the Pistons which earned them the nickname Bad Boys was a nightmare for Jordan. MJ and his teammates had major struggles against the Pistons. However, Jordan was not the only NbA player to have a beef with Thomas.

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Adrian Dantley’s beef with Isiah Thomas

Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons’ journey to the back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 was nowhere near easy. The team had to go up against legendary teams like the Los Angeles Lakers with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar and the Boston Celtics with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Furthermore, they had to deal with some serious internal issues as well.

Especially the beef between their superstars Adrian Dantley and Isiah. Dantley was one of the best low post scorers at the time despite his height of 6’5″. Even though he was the leading scorer on the team, he felt he did not get the share of the ball enough.

Dantley was not happy Isiah was running the show as well. Even though the beef was going strong, the Pistons did not trade him until he angered head coach Chuck Daly. In the 1989 season, Dantley’s scoring went down and Daly gave priority to a young Dennis Rodman.

This reduced his playing time. When Daly once wanted Dantley to come out for Rodman, the center refused. As per reports from Secret Base, Daly was livid and said, “We’ve got to get that moer*er the f**k out of here.”

Dantley was then traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Mark Aguirre in 1989 and then won the title. But there was a huge controversy that Isiah was the reason behind the trade because he wanted to play alongside Aguirre who was his friend and also because of his feud with Dantley.

The Pistons’ path to two straight rings

Isiah Thomas, Adrian Dantley, and the Detroit Pistons were a good team. Despite the ego clashes between the superstars, they came close to winning the title in 1987 and 88. They lost the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics and the 1988 NBA Finals against the Lakers. Both series were very close and could have gone either way. It has to be noted Dantley played a huge part during both runs. However, he was not meant to win a title with the Pistons. The two-time scoring champion retired without winning a ring.