Chicago Bulls legend Derrick Rose names Michael Jordan’s biggest rival as his NBA GOAT

Michael Jordan made an indelible mark on the NBA during nearly two decades as a professional basketball player. And without a doubt, the place where he left the strongest legacy was with the Chicago Bulls. However, now Derrick Rose, another icon of the franchise, has chosen MJ’s biggest rival as his favorite in the GOAT debate.

“My GOAT now is Isiah Thomas because he’s from Chicago,” revealed Rose during a recent interview with HoopsHype. The 2011 league MVP then highlighted a key reason behind his pick: “The only guy who beat Magic (Johnson), Mike (Jordan), and (Larry) Bird all in their prime at 6-3. Chicago’s way of doing (expletive).”

This answer is surprising for several reasons. First, because most players tend to name Jordan as their GOAT—especially those who played for the Bulls. And also because Rose himself had previously mentioned His Airness as the greatest of all time.

“I used to say MJ, but it wasn’t MJ. I said it because I was intrigued by his story and how he won,” Derrick clarified. He then pointed to how his own experience as a player influenced his decision to choose Thomas over Michael. “I’m not a two-guard. I don’t score like him at all. So it was just me just admiring his story.”

Isiah Thomas in action during an NBA game with the Detroit Pistons.

Rose’s strong ties to the city of Chicago

Despite being one of the most important Bulls players of this century—in fact, the only member of the franchise to win the MVP award in the last 27 years—Derrick Rose has always made it clear that his main allegiance is to the city of Chicago, where he was born in October 1988.

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With that in mind, in an interview earlier this year on the Out The Mud podcast, Rose named his top five Chicago players. “I gotta go Zeke,” he said first, referring to Isiah Thomas and remaining consistent with his current choice of the Detroit Pistons icon as the GOAT.

Derrick then highlighted other former NBA players born in Chicago, such as Will Bynum, Tony Allen, Jabari Parker, Patrick Beverley, and Sherron Collins.

The rivalry between Jordan and Thomas

The clashes between Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas began in MJ’s early years in the league. He was already the undisputed leader of the Bulls, but had yet to take them to the top of the Eastern Conference, largely due to the Detroit Pistons.

For three consecutive years, from 1988 to 1990, the Bad Boys knocked Chicago out of the playoffs, winning the championship in two of those three seasons. The streak finally ended in 1991, and from that point on, MJ would dominate the NBA—but his relationship with Thomas was never repaired.

The tension reached such a point that, during the lead-up to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the question of whether or not Isiah would be included became a key issue in Jordan’s decision to join Team USA. While Mike always denied making Thomas’s exclusion a condition, he did acknowledge that discussions on the matter took place—and in the end, Thomas was left off the roster despite his basketball credentials.