Scottie Pippen Admitted He And Michael Jordan Would Not Have Played For ‘Dream Team’ If Isiah Thomas Was Selected: ‘The Chemistry Would Have Been Horrible’

NBA legend Scottie Pippen admitted in his book, “Unguarded,” that he and Michael Jordan would not have played for the “Dream Team” if Isiah Thomas had been selected. 

Pippen and Jordan did not like Thomas, the leader of the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons. 

“Much has been written over the years about why Isiah didn’t make the team,” Pippen wrote. “What is true, without a doubt, is that a number of guys wouldn’t have participated if he had been selected, Michael and me included.”

The “Dream Team” was the 1992 United States basketball team. The roster featured Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Pippen, David Robinson, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Christian Laettner and John Stockton.

“Looking at his numbers, it would be difficult to argue Isiah wasn’t deserving,” Pippen wrote. “Putting a basketball team together is about more than numbers. It is about chemistry, and with Isiah on the Dream Team, the chemistry would have been horrible.”

Pippen also revealed in his book that Thomas, one of the best guards in NBA history, reached out to him to try and patch things up in 2020. 

“In the spring of 2020, while the doc was being aired, Isiah was interested in the two of us declaring a truce,” Pippen wrote. “He reached out to B. J. Armstrong, who called me: ‘Would you be willing to talk to him?’ B.J. asked. Dude, are you kidding me? When I came into the league, he was never nice to me. Why would I want to meet with him now? Isiah is no fool. He knows better than anyone else how poorly he came across in The Last Dance, and with good reason. I wasn’t about to make it easier for him.”

The Pistons were swept by the Chicago Bulls in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. Before Game 4 ended, Thomas and the Pistons walked off the court and didn’t shake hands with the Bulls. 

In 2018, Pippen and Charles Oakley spoke with actor Michael Rapaport for The Players’ Tribune. Pippen, one of the greatest small forwards in NBA history, ripped Thomas when Rapport asked him a question about the Pistons legend. 

“Don’t nobody know who he is anyway,” Pippen said in the YouTube video. “What am I gonna say? He’s a snake. Just saying.”

Pippen and Thomas will never be friends. The two NBA icons had several battles during their playing careers, with Thomas’ Pistons intentionally hurting Pippen and the Bulls. 

Jordan and Thomas will also never be buddies. 

The “Dream Team” went undefeated in the 1992 Olympics. USA beat Croatia in the gold medal game. 

Every player from the “Dream Team” is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame except for Laettner, who didn’t become a star in the NBA after being a dominant force in college at Duke.

Jordan and Pippen won six championships together on the Bulls, while Thomas won two with the Pistons.