Michael Jordan had to overcome the Detroit Pistons in the first years of his career trying to win an NBA championship. After two losses in two consecutive playoff series, he overcame the Piston’s “Jordan Rules” and won his first-ever championship in 1990.
On the latest episode of People’s Party with rapper Talib Kweli, John Salley offered up a slightly different take on Jordan’s feelings towards those Pistons squads.
“[Michael] loved everybody,” Salley said, per Uproxx.com. “He hated Bill Laimbeer. Well, no one liked Bill Laimbeer at the time. I just started liking the cat like a week ago. But MJ loved our competitive spirit. He liked that that was a challenge. He liked that he had to get up for it.”
While Jordan later embraced some members of the Detroit “Bad Boys”, like John Salley and Dennis Rodman, he admitted that he still hates Isiah Thomas, who was the leader of the Pistons during this era.
