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When Michael Jordan Called 1996 USA Team For Olympics 'Duplicates'; All You Need to Know
Michael Jordan is the reason why the 1992 Team USA was called as the Dream Team before going to Olympics and he didn't want that title given to any other team.
In NBA circles, if you mention the Dream Team, everyone in the basketball community knows you mean the 1992 team. This team, which included Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, lit up the basketball world at the Olympics in Barcelona and established the United States as the dominant nation in the sport.
Just four years later, however, there was another team referred to as the Dream Team. MJ reportedly felt hurt hearing them called by the same name. He criticized this on an episode of Diversion Podcasts called The Dream Team Tapes.
"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.
In 1992, rumors circulated that the United States was losing its top spot in the world basketball rankings to other countries. That in and of itself was sufficient for the national team setup to summon the greatest names in the game to refute this, and boy, did they succeed.
With 11 Hall of Famers, 23 NBA titles, and 15 MVP awards on the roster, the embarrassing wealth of the team easily defeated the opposition to win the gold medal. They believed that the clamor would subside given the USA's demonstrated aggression. But in the short space of four years, it became even louder.
The second iteration of the Dream Team emerged to solidify their dominance over global basketball at a time when there were more foreign NBA players than ever before as the sport continued to expand after Jordan, Bird, and Magic retired from international play. Although this team also adopted the moniker, it was obvious that Jordan didn't like it.
He believed that his squad was the only one deserving of the esteemed title. It's important to emphasize that the 1996 team was more than deserving of the moniker "Dream Team," even though it makes sense that Michael Jordan didn't want another national team to use the same name.
The second iteration of the Dream team, which included players like Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen, was equally formidable on the court as it was on paper.
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