Horace Grant would not have appeared on Michael Jordan’s documentary, The Last Dance, if not for a friend.
When he saw the finished product, however, Grant wished he had stuck with his gut. What caught him off guard was that he and his teammates were cast in a negative light just to make MJ look like a superhero.
Advertisement
“Once I saw it, they cut that thing like, sliced it up. I mean, I’m sitting there and I couldn’t believe it, to be honest,” Grant said on Stacey King’s “Gimme The Hot Sauce” podcast.
“To be transparent, I could not believe how much they cut it up and made the majority of us look incompetent.”
Incompetent would be one of the better words to describe how the documentary portrayed Jordan’s Chicago Bulls teammates.
His Airness even scoffed at how Grant used to be beaten up by the Pistons and whined to the referees after. Horace was understandably upset that he was made out to be mentally weak.
Advertisement
Moreover, Jordan even suggested that Grant may be the “rat” that leaked information to Sam Smith, the author of “The Jordan Rules.”
The latter vehemently denied the accusation.
In truth, Grant was one of the most consistent individuals in the 1990 and 1991 Eastern Conference finals against the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons. He averaged 12 and 12 in the 1990 loss and bounced back the following year against the same Pistons squad, averaging 13.5 points and 7.8 rebounds, while shooting 69 percent from the floor.
Advertisement
King echoed the same sentiment
King never played much for the Bulls except for some spot minutes, but he was with the team through its first three-peat run. He had a pivotal role in Chicago’s fourth-quarter comeback in Game 6 of the 1992 NBA finals against the Portland Trail Blazers, but that was about it.
Still, Stacey took Horace’s side and felt there was something off about the documentary’s storytelling and buildup.
“I mean, that was my take on it,” King said.
Advertisement
“I felt like anything that happened in that first three-peat had nothing to do with the second three-peat. Nothing. That 1.8 seconds that Scottie sat out had nothing to do with the second go-round.”
“Those guys won the championship. They earned it just like we earned our championship. We were the “First Dance”, they were the “Last Dance.” If you want to do a “First Dance,” then talk about the “First Dance.” But the “Last Dance” should have been based off what that team was going through and how hard it was to three-peat again,” added King.
For King, the documentary would not have run short of material if it had focused on the 1996-1998 title teams. After all, the makeup of those squads was very different, aside from Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson.
Advertisement
Therefore, he saw the overlap as a missed chance to tell two separate stories: the rise of the Bulls’ first dynasty and the grind of their second.
The Last Dance was primarily an MJ documentary
While Grant and King’s frustrations were valid, it’s important to remember that The Last Dance was, at its core, an MJ documentary. The series was never going to give equal weight to every voice, because its central subject was always clear from the start.
Advertisement
The footage itself was collected by an NBA Entertainment crew during the 1997-98 season, with Mike co-signing everything. His own production company, Jump 23, co-produced the 10-episode miniseries.
Jordan was evidently in control, so the story unsurprisingly tilted to his favor.
That framing might frustrate former teammates, but it also ensured the documentary remained a global celebration of Jordan rather than a balanced retelling of team history.
Advertisement
Fair or not, the spotlight was always going to follow the man who made the Bulls a worldwide phenomenon.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.