"Jordan needed more protection" - Isiah Thomas reveals the reason why Chicago Bulls traded Charles Oakley, talks about squaring with bigger players in NBA

The Isiah Thomas and Charles Oakley back-and-forth is heating up. Thomas has appeared on podcasts and his usual gig as a basketball analyst for NBA TV. Oakley, on the other hand, has been doing the rounds as guests on different platforms.

In an episode of The Point Forward, the Detroit Pistons great was the featured guest of co-hosts Andre Iguodala and former NBA player Evan Turner. Isiah Thomas took a shot at Charles Oakley’s much-ballyhooed toughness. The Hall-of-Famer is offering a shocking perspective that contradicts the self-proclaimed “enforcer.”

Here’s how Isiah Thomas made mincemeat of Charles Oakley’s supposed personal bodyguard role to Michael Jordan:

"So we in Chicago and Chicago has just traded Oakley because he wasn't physical enough. They traded [Charles] Oakley for [Bill] Cartwright. Jordan needed more protection, so they brought Cartwright in and you know Cartwright had this, you know, they said he swung his arms."

Against Michael Jordan’s will, the Chicago Bulls traded Charles Oakley, who was then an emerging forward/center for the New York Knicks’ aging center Bill Cartwright. His Airness had already developed a strong bond with the “Oak” and was the Bulls’ enforcer in the rough and tumble days of the NBA in the 80s.

When the trade was made, Charles Oakley was only 24 years old and averaged 12.4 points and 13 rebounds. Bill Cartwright, on the other hand, was already 30 years old and injury-prone but still averaged 11.1 points and 7.1 rebounds.

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Even against Michael Jordan's wishes, the trade was executed because of Cartwright’s better fit. The Chicago Bulls also had the emerging Horace Grant who would take up Oakley’s role in the team.

For Isiah Thomas, it was simply Oakley’s lack of physicality and interior presence that forced the Bulls to move the player Michael Jordan considered a brother. History shows that sometime down the road, the trade worked perfectly for the Bulls. Cartwright and Grant formed Chicago’s imposing inside presence in its first three-peat.

Isiah Thomas and Bill Cartwright eventually got into it

Bill Cartwright, who was traded for Charles Oakley, was instrumental in helping the Chicago Bulls in their first three-peat. [Photo: NBC Sports]

On April 7, 1989, the Detroit Pistons were on the road at the Chicago Stadium to face their hated rivals Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Cartwright has by then established a reputation as a bruising low block scorer with deadly elbows.

Isiah Thomas was also one of those undersized point guards who’s never afraid to drive into the teeth of the defense. After years of hard-fought battles, it was inevitable they’ll eventually come to blows.

The Detroit Pistons Hall-of-Fame point guard remembers it like it was yesterday:

“I’m small. He [Cartwright] hit me one time upside the head. And he said, ‘Hey man, I didn’t mean it.’ And I’m, ‘Okay.’ Well, he hit me again! I was like, ‘That don’t seem like that’s clumsy.’ So, he and I get into it.”

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Thomas continued his riveting story:

"Now Laimbeer and him, they was doing all the banging back there. But all the big guys, they were turning around and want to fight me. And I grew up in Chicago on the West Side and I’ve always had to fight bigger guys like y’all, so it won’t no thing to me. …You ain’t never seen me in no scrap with no small guy. All them big guys, they decided they want to hit me."

The Pistons’ short-lived reign would eventually end with Bill Cartwright and Horace Grant playing major roles in snapping that dominance. Hearing Isiah Thomas’ perspective, from a different angle of a turning point in the Bulls-Pistons rivalry, is both enlightening and enjoyable.