Decades of turmoil and disdain led to a tearful embrace back in 2017 between the game’s biggest stars.
Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas are two of the most prolific basketball players of all-time.
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Johnson and Thomas have long put their differences aside and have made amendsCredit: Getty
A once strong relationship between two of the best to ever do it, began to deteriorate and wither away after Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers battled Thomas’ Detroit Pistons in back-to-back NBA Finals in 1988 and 1989.
The Lakers defeated the Pistons in ’88, while Detroit returned the favor a year later.
Not only were Johnson and Thomas two of the best point guards to ever lace them up, they were also two of the most competitive people to step on to an NBA court.
By the time the Olympics rolled around in 1992, Johnson used his power and influence to keep Thomas off the Dream Team, something he alluded to in the past.
Johnson felt Thomas had spread rumors surrounding his sexuality in 1991 after he announced to the world that he had contracted HIV.
From there he reportedly did his best, along with the suspected approval of Michael Jordan and Larry Bird to keep Thomas off the team.
At that point, there was no relationship between the two stars. Fast forward nearly 30 years later, and the two finally made up in a tearful conversation.
On an episode of NBATV’s Players Only Monthly special back in 2017, Johnson and Thomas officially buried the hatchet and made up.
“This has been a tremendous day,” Johnson said.
“My wife, my mother, my father have been saying y’all need to get back together. So when everybody called, I said no question we’re going to do this.
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Johnson and Thomas made up during an episode of NBATV’s Players Only MonthlyCredit: Getty
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The two stars were once good friends early in their careersCredit: Getty
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It was the hug heard around the NBA when Johnson and Thomas finally made upCredit: Getty
“And just to sit across from you and relive those moments of fun, excellence, working hard, dreaming big. Who sits up at 19 or 21 dreaming of stuff we wanted to do and now we are here doing it.
“You are my brother. Let me apologize if I hurt you, that we haven’t been together and God is good to bring us back together.”
The two stars had tears in their eyes as they then shared an emotional embrace. The beef was officially squashed.
Now, if you go back and ask Jordan about Thomas’ exclusion from the Dream Team, the Chicago Bulls star said it had nothing to do with him.
“You want to attribute it to me, go ahead and be my guest. But it wasn’t me,” Jordan said in “The Last Dance.”
“The Dream Team, based on the environment and the camaraderie that happened on that team, it was the best harmony. Would Isiah have made a different feeling on that team? Yes.”
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Thomas of course has always believed he belonged on that team, which he certainly had a claim to.
“I don’t know what went into that process. I met the criteria to be selected, but I wasn’t,” Thomas said in “The Last Dance.”
We will never know the real reason why Thomas was left off. Whether it was Johnson or Jordan or both who really pushed for it, will remain a mystery.
What isn’t, is that Johnson and Thomas are back on good terms, and have been for a while now.
It’s a win for them and a win for the entire basketball community.