If you refer to the Dream Team in NBA circles, everyone in the basketball world knows who you are talking about. The 1992 squad, led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, set the world on fire at the Barcelona Olympics and established the United States as the world leader in basketball.
However, there was another Dream Team just four years later, and it pains MJ to this day when they’re referenced with the same title.
On one of the editions of “The Dream Team Tapes” by Diversion Podcasts, Jordan was caught disapproving of the same nickname for the national team roster that came after 1992.
“He said, ‘There’s only one Dream Team! The rest are duplicates,’ and he gave me that glare, the Michael Jordan glare; his eyes were raising. After that, I didn’t even say Dream Team anymore because I was afraid that Michael Jordan would hunt me down,” host J.A. Adande said.
Only one Dream Team
The year was 1992, and there were whispers that the rest of the world was catching up to the United States when it came to basketball supremacy at the international level.
That alone was enough for the national team setup to call on the biggest names in the sport to prove this was far from the case—and boy, did they succeed. 11 Hall of Famers, 23 NBA championships, and 15 MVP awards on the roster were sure to do the trick, as the embarrassment of riches routed the competition en route to an easy gold medal.
With the dominance the USA displayed, they thought the noise would quiet down. However, it grew even louder just four years later.
The second coming
As the game continued to globalize after Jordan, Bird, and Magic stepped away from international duty, along came the second coming of the Dream Team to reconfirm their reign over worldwide basketball—at a time when there were more international NBA players than ever.
This squad also embraced the nickname, but it clearly rubbed Jordan the wrong way. He felt his team was the only roster worthy of sporting the prestigious label.
While it’s understandable that MJ didn’t want another national team to share the nickname, it’s important to highlight that the 1996 squad was more than worthy of being dubbed the Dream Team.
Possessing the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen, just to name a few, the second coming of the Dream team was just as dominant on the floor as they were on paper.
It’s far too late to give the 1996 roster another tag nearly two decades later, but despite the time that has passed, MJ clearly still feels a certain way about it.