It’s not a secret that the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons don’t like each other to this day.
That all dates back to the Bad Boy Pistons and the Jordan Rules era.
The Pistons were Jordan’s kryptonite and ruled the Eastern Conference before the Bulls stormed back to dominate the entire league.
Isiah Thomas has spent the past two decades trying to take down Michael Jordan’s reputation ever since, but even he recognized his biggest rivals’ nemesis.
Thomas recently claimed that he would’ve won eight or nine championships if he had played with Jordan, jokingly saying that they would’ve still been playing together.
.@JCrossover: "How many championships could you have won if you and Michael Jordan were teammates?”@IsiahThomas: “Eight or nine definitely.” ? pic.twitter.com/2ei1tnAkHd
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 10, 2023
Truth be told, it’s not that far-fetched to think.
Thomas is one of the greatest, most underrated defenders, an elite playmaker, and a fierce competitor who always rose to the occasion and knocked down huge shots throughout the course of his career.
He’s often been overlooked and snubbed when talking about the greatest players of all time, perhaps because of that feud with Jordan.
The Bulls never had a ball-dominant or even All-Star caliber point guard during the Jordan era, so maybe they wouldn’t have thrived in the triangle offense.
There’s even a chance that Jordan wouldn’t have burst out to become the player he became if he had shared the court with Thomas.
But from a basketball standpoint, there’s absolutely no reason to believe they couldn’t have won eight rings together, especially if Jordan played for the Pistons, as he wouldn’t have had to endure such a beating in every matchup.
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