June 11, 2025
‘I would say this is that if they both sat down and just aired this thing out, both guys will be able to move on with their lives,’ Magic said in 2020.
Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas have been feuding for 30 years, and Earvin “Magic” Johnson wants the former rivals to settle their differences.
The rivalry between Jordan and Thomas reached a fever pitch from the late 1980s to 1990s, when they battled for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Thomas’ Detroit Pistons won back-to-back NBA championships before Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, the Pistons’ fiercest rival, began their reign as the NBA’s best in 1991.
Fast forward to 2020. The release of the massively popular ESPN docuseries, The Last Dance, featured Jordan rehashing his hatred for Thomas.
Magic has long wanted the pair to work things out. The Basketball Network reposted a video of the entrepreneur and hoops legend appearing on The View, in which he made a plea to both gentlemen, who are friends of his, to talk it out.
“Well, you know what, I love both guys, and I hope that both of them can bury this hatchet and move on, because we’re too old for this right now,” Johnson said. “I would say this is that if they both sat down and just aired this thing out, both guys will be able to move on with their lives, and they would say, ‘Hey, you know what, let us be friends, because life is too short.’”
Well, that interview took place five years ago, but in 2023, Thomas did state that he was willing to have a conversation with Jordan.
“I don’t hate anybody. If the brother came here and sat down today and wanted to have an honest conversation—key word, ‘honest’—I’m down for it,” Thomas said while speaking at the ForbesBlk summit in Atlanta.
Publicly, we have yet to see any reconciliation or discussion between the two—despite Magic’s best efforts.
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