Charles Oakley humiliates Isiah Thomas on beef with Michael Jordan: “He does not want to be your friend!”
While Michael Jordan has allegedly had representatives reach out and apologize to Isiah Thomas behind the scenes, Thomas isn't ready to put things behind him. As he revealed recently, if Jordan wants to apologize behind the scenes, then he also needs to apologize in public.
As the old saying goes, let your apology be as loud as the disrespect, and that seems to be exactly where Thomas is with the matter. If Jordan really hates him, as he said in "The Last Dance," then he should either own up to it or apologize on national TV.
According to Charles Oakley, the man widely considered to be Michael Jordan's "enforcer" throughout his career, MJ has no intentions of being friends with Thomas. During a recent podcast appearance, he spoke about the situation as it stands with the two men.
“Michael does not want to be your friend, Isiah," Oakley said. "For the fifth time, he does not want to be your friend! Stay on ESPN, keep talking on TNT. Now you’re trying to say everybody’s better than Mike. It’s OK! You are not better than Mike.
"He came to your city and took your city. That’s why you’re really mad. He took over Chicago (Thomas' hometown)!”
You can view his comments in the video below.
Charles Oakley straight up roasts Isaiah Thomas 💀
"[Michael Jordan] came to your city and took your city. That's why you're really mad." #nba #bulls https://t.co/RFTEJR8MY7
Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas behind the scenes
According to Isiah Thomas, he and Michael Jordan's families are close friends behind the scenes, all things considered. When Jordan first arrived in Chicago, before the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls were competing in the playoffs, the two families became friends.
As IT revealed in December in an interview with the "Pivot Podcast":
"When Michael Jordan got to Chicago, I made it real easy for him to walk those streets on the west side of Chicago. My family took care of him. My sister and his brother hung out as friends. My little nephew lived with Michael Jordan.
"Now, I'm being extremely good to this dude, I'm calling his house during this period of time."
The way Jordan explained things to Playboy decades ago, when he arrived at his first All-Star game as a rookie, he didn't know what to do. Without any of his teammates around, he kept to his room most of the time. When he had to attend a league meeting, he encountered Thomas for the first time on his elevator ride down.
"I said, 'Hello, how ya doin’?' That’s all I said," Jordan said. "I was really intimidated, because I didn’t know him and I didn’t want to get on his nerves. I didn’t want to seem like a rookie, you know, to just be so stupid. So I was quiet. I stayed in the corner. When I went down in the room for the meeting, I still didn’t say anything.
"After the weekend was over, it got back to me that I was arrogant and cocky and I wouldn’t even speak to Isiah on the elevator, that I gave him the cold shoulder. And I’m saying Isiah Thomas initiated it all."
Do you think Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas will ever mend fences?
You can see Thomas' quotes from above down below, beginning shortly after the 34-minute mark.