Isaiah Thomas Says Larry Bird Felt Disrespected Pistons Used White Players to Guard Him

Pistons’ choice to allocate white players to guard Larry Bird during NBA games was a show of disrespect, according to fellow NBA legend Isaiah Thomas, who revealed this on “All The Smoke”. Bird, formerly of the Boston Celtics, dominated the NBA for over a decade without opposition, thus resulting in multiple debates over whether or not he is the best white player in the history of the league. Bird was silky smooth and carved up defenses easily en route to clinching three titles.

Larry Bird preferred to be guarded by black opponents.

Bird was not impressed by Detroit Pistons’ use of an all-white front court against him. He saw it as an insult to his talent. “He said, ‘Hey man, you can’t put no white dude on me. That is straight disrespect. Don’t put no white dude on me.’ So, check this out. The next year we come back, and I said, ‘We got somebody for your ass.’ He said, ‘Who you got?’ I said, ‘Rodman,” Thomas explained as he fought back laughter.

The legend of Bird continues to grow.

The fact that Bird was insulted if he wasn’t guarded by black players can be considered amusing, but not surprising. Bird was known to be a gutsy, in-your-face kind of player. He was not the kind of player one could easily subdue. Larry Bird was unstoppable for most of his career and possibly the best American-born white player in NBA history. Jerry West or Pete Maravich could also be part of the conversation, but Bird’s three championship rings made him a distinguished NBA legend. He, along with Magic Johnson, was one of the leading faces of the NBA for a long time. And it appears you had better have some “brothers” (Isaiah Thomas’ words) to guard him, or he wasn’t going to be satisfied.

For those curious about how fiercely Bird played against the Pistons, in his career, he played Detroit 53 times, averaging 25 points per game and 10.3 rebounds. Whether white or black players were guarding him, it seemed that it didn’t matter; he always tore up Detroit. He did much better against the Pistons than he did against the average NBA team. Perhaps Bird’s comments to Thomas had some truth in them.

Now, we can look back at Bird’s comments and laugh. Nowadays, if a player made any comment about race, the NBA would be set ablaze. Fortunately, it was a simpler time when Bird dominated the NBA and clinched championships.