Isiah Thomas has been fired as head coach of FIU after three seasons coaching the Miami university's men's basketball team.
Isiah Thomas wants Michael Jordan to publicly apologize for how he was portrayed on "The Last Dance." Reuters

KEY POINTS

  • Isiah Thomas says his beef with Michael Jordan will continue until he receives a public apology
  • Thomas explains the reason behind the 1991 NBA Eastern Conference Finals walkout
  • The retired NBA superstars have infamously not liked each other since the 1980s

The rivalry between NBA legends Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan in the 80s is well-documented when both played for the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls respectively.

This was once again revisited in the docuseries entitled "The Last Dance."

It hardly comes as a surprise that Thomas was one of the many people who got the chance to watch the docuseries and was left irked by it.

The 61-year-old said in an interview with Eurohoops that he took offense at how he was portrayed in the Netflix special.

"I proceed to watch a whole documentary about him being an a--hole. I'm like wait a minute, time out. Until I get a public apology, this beef is gonna go on for a long, long time, cause I'm from the west side of Chicago," the two-time NBA champion stated.

Jordan did admit that he loathed Thomas but respected his contributions to the sport of basketball.

However, there were a couple of incidents that may have gotten Thomas upset.

One of them was during Game 4 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons walked off the court at that time even before the game ended.

Detroit was routed in that game and did not shake hands with their opponents.

However, Thomas explained that the Boston Celtics did the same thing to them a season before that.

"During that period of time, that's just not how it was passed," Thomas mentioned. "When you lost, you left the floor."

Another one was the 1992 USA Olympic Dream Team selection, where Jordan was being singled out as the one responsible for the 12-time All-Star not being selected.

The 59-year-old denied having any hand in the selection process.

"I don't know what went into that process," Thomas said. "I met the criteria to be selected, but I wasn't."

So while both players are retired, it appears the beef between them is nowhere near getting settled.

That is unless Jordan agrees to the demand of Thomas to issue a public apology.

The Last Dance
Michael Jordan has been asked to publicly apologize by Isiah Thomas for the things that were said on "The Last Dance." Photo by ESPN/The Last Dance