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Isiah Thomas Claims Michael Jordan, Bulls Started Handshake Controversy

Shandel Richardson

Steve Kerr was teammates with Michael Jordan for five seasons with the Bulls, winning three championships. 2020-04-13 Kerr Jordan1
Steve Kerr was teammates with Michael Jordan for five seasons with the Bulls, winning three championships. 2020-04-13 Kerr Jordan1 / Anne Ryan, USA TODAY, USA TODAY via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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NBA fans from the 1980s and `90s believe the league is too friendly.

They says players are too "buddy, buddy." They feel superstars should never team up with their rivals.

While some blame LeBron James for when he joined Chris Bosh and Dwyane With the Miami Heat in 2010, Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas thinks it started well before that. He says it began when it was highlighted that the Detroit Pistons walked off the court without shaking hands with the Chicago Bulls in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals.

"Up until 1991, when the Detroit Pistons got swept by the Chicago Bulls, nobody expected a handshake," Thomas said. "After 1991, and they said, `Oh, Isiah didn't shake Michael Jordan's hand and Michael Jordan's like, `Oh, Isiah didn't shake my hand' and they was crying about not getting their hand shook. That's when everybody started."'

So you guys ask when did all this buddy buddy start after the game. So when I say 91 under stand why

Posted by John Gaskew III on Saturday, January 4, 2025

The moment was the beginning of the shift in the NBA power. After years of losing to the Pistons, the Bulls won six championships in the next eight seasons. Now, handshaking after games is prevalent. Thomas said it became popular because Jordan and the Bulls made a big deal about it.

"Go find me the picture of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird shaking hands after they played," Thomas said. "The winning team or the losing team, after everybody left the floor, they were coming to the locker room and shake your hand and say good luck. We never made a big deal about it. The Lakers never made a big deal. Philadelphia never made a big deal. The only team in history that is still talked about today. Dude, y'all won six championships and you still hung on didn't nobody shake your hand? Come on, man."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com