Gilbert Arenas was on his podcast discussing how certain stars benefitted from the situation they were drafted into. He then made a bold claim about his GOAT, Michael Jordan. “The only person who built their legacy from trash to greatness is Michael Jordan,” the 3x All-Star affirmed.
Jordan’s bitterest rival Isiah Thomas caught wind of this claim and decided to chime in himself. Taking to X, Zeke responded, “Not the only one.”
Not the only one @GilsArenaShow https://t.co/KXg0GZwAnF
— Isiah Thomas (@IsiahThomas) August 31, 2024
Let’s break down the claims Arenas made and decipher how Thomas’ response shapes up in comparison. The former Wizards guard was speaking on the history of certain teams landing top picks despite already being contenders. To make his point, he brought up NBA legends like Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.
“If Magic went to…To the Jazz, or if he went to Cleveland that year, is he winning a championship in the first 5 years of his career? Like he did 3. No. If Tim Duncan didn’t go to the Spurs and he went to the last 2-3 teams, is he Tim Duncan?”
Arenas was making the point that the top 3 picks traditionally go to the worst teams in the league. He used the above examples to explain how being drafted into a winning situation is not the norm for top picks in the NBA Draft. Arenas somewhat viewed it as the easy way out.
“Jordan is the only one who struggled his first 5-6 years, then built championships,” Gil boldly stated. While it’s true that MJ had to face an uphill battle en route to forming a championship contender in Chicago, was he, as Agent Zero claims, the only one?
A rebuilding Pistons franchise drafted Thomas 2nd overall in the 1981 NBA Draft. The team was coming off a 21-win season and wouldn’t break .500 for the first two seasons after landing Thomas.
Even once they were playoff-bound, Detroit faced strong competition in the East, going up against Bernard King’s Knicks and the Celtics trio of Bird, McHale, and Parish.
Finally, in 1988, 7 years after drafting Zeke, the Detroit Pistons would defeat Boston and advance to their first NBA Finals in 32 years. Unfortunately, they were up against Magic and Kareem’s Lakers, who won the series in 7 to clinch their second consecutive title.
The next season, 1988-89, was when the ‘Bad Boys’ emerged, winning 63 games. Spearheaded by Thomas, they returned to the NBA Finals and swept the Los Angeles Lakers. During the 89-90 season, they ran it back for their second straight championship.
So how does this tie into Arenas’ comments and Zeke’s response? Well, the Pistons landed top players in the draft by being one of the worst teams in the league. And over nearly a decade, they built a championship contender for their star point guard, Thomas.
By Arenas’ standards then, it seems clear that Michael Jordan was not the only one to build their legacy “from trash to greatness,” which is exactly what Thomas pointed out when he responded to the tweet.