When John Salley went from Detroit to Toronto to Chicago, he carried his partying ways with him. Along the way, he picked up a lifelong friend in Kevin Brereton. Better known as k-os. In turn, k-os’ social circle expanded to include a few NBA greats. One instance showed the rapper the difference in treatment Salley got in Detroit and in Chicago, courtesy of the teams’ biggest stars. Part of it, according to Brereton, was related to the long-simmering bad blood between Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas.

During his appearance on Q with Tom Power, k-os recalled one of the infamous Spider legends when a car ended up in a lake. When he was playing in the Detroit Pistons, Salley’s partying behavior got a free pass from his then-teammate, Isiah Thomas. Salley would end up with the Toronto Raptors in 1995 when Zeke was leading the NBA expansion team as a part-owner and executive.

Because the Raptors were still building a rep, Zeke had to reluctantly punish Salley for his wild ways. As Brereton recalled, “So Isiah [Thomas] had to bench him [Salley], who’s his best friend. Isiah was like, ‘There’s no way that I can start you right now. This is a new franchise. You’ve just like caused all this trouble here.'”

An upset Salley apparently made a call to Chicago, to his biggest rival, Michael Jordan. At this point, Dennis Rodman had gone from Detroit to Chicago, and his equally crazy ways weren’t curbed. Not only could Salley see that, Jordan apparently told him, “You don’t have to worry about that.” When Salley asked why, ‘His Airness’ replied, “‘Cuz you’re on the Bulls now.”

So, according to Brereton, Salley took the opportunity. Spider immediately took a 10-day contract with the Bulls in 1996. Interestingly, Salley had a draft workout before Bulls owner, Red Auerbach. The team promised to pick him in the 1986 draft if he was still available at no.9. However, they backtracked by picking Brad Sellers and the Pistons picked Salley 11th overall instead.

Putting the betrayal behind him, Salley came to Chicago and won his third NBA title that year. According to the forward’s best friend, this was one of the peak moments in Michael Jordan’s feud with Isiah Thomas.

Michael Jordan’s feud with Isiah Thomas showed in odd ways

After The Last Dance, MJ and Zeke’s feud took an ugly turn. Before that, they seemed to have a healthy rivalry. Despite the on-court intensity, they were friends off-court. Jordan supported Zeke’s post-NBA ventures with the Raptors often, like flying between Chicago and Toronto for Raptors games. However, the bad blood had reportedly spilled off the court by then.

By poaching Salley for the rest of 1996, Jordan got a petty win over Zeke. K-os says that Michael Jordan not only had that kind of decision-making power within the Bulls, but also, “He hated Isiah, they had a long rivalry. So it helped him like I’m going to take this guy and then they win a championship.”

It might seem that Jordan and Thomas had a falling out after the Netflix documentary. However, the feud had been simmering for decades and showed in such ways.