1992 Dream Team snub still stings for Isiah Thomas

FILE – Former Detroit Piston Isiah Thomas talks to the crowd during a celebration of the 1989 and 1990 World Championship Detroit Pistons at halftime during a game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on March 30, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images/AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Almost three decades since getting snubbed from the “Dream Team” in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Isiah Thomas still has an ax to grind for not making the greatest basketball squad ever assembled.

In fact, the NBA legend is disgruntled now than he was ever before.

“I thought I should’ve made that Dream Team,” Thomas said in an interview with ESPN’s Get Up where he opened up about his legacy and relationship with Michael Jordan.

“However, I wasn’t a part of it. That hurt me, and looking back, if I’m not a part of the Dream Team because a lapse in emotion in terms of not shaking someone’s hand, if that’s the reason why I didn’t make the Dream Team, then I am more disappointed today than I was back then when I wasn’t selected.”

Thomas was pertaining to the time when he and the rest of the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons decided to walk off the court with still 7.9 seconds left in Game 4 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls, who were up big at that moment on their way to a resounding sweep.

That infamous incident involving the two heated rivals, relived in the third episode of “The Last Dance” on Monday, was what many believed to be the reason why Thomas was left out of the Dream Team despite being one of the best players in the league.

The Dream Team, led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, was the first time NBA players participated in the Olympics.