Long time NBA fans will have noticed that The Last Dance's focused a lot on the Bulls' second "Big Three" of Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen, and Dennis Rodman but were a little bit less obvious about the original trio being Jordan, Pippen, and Horace Grant.
Grant was a key member of the Bulls' first three titles between 1991 and 1993 before moving to Orlando during Jordan's first retirement. In the series, it appeared his old teammate's presence on a new big rival irritated Jordan and there has been acrimony between the two since, with Jordan outright accusing Grant as being the leak for the negative stories that came out about him in Sam Smith's famous book, The Jordan Rules.
Now, Grant, who was interviewed on The Last Dance has come out hard against Jordan and the making of the film in an interview with ESPN radio, claiming the documentary lacked validity because of the presence of two of Jordan's closest confidants as Executive Producers and the rumour that Jordan had final approval over the film, something director Jason Hehir vehemently denies.
"I would say it was entertaining, but we know, who was there as teammates, that about 90% of it -- I don't know if I can say it on air, but B.S. in terms of the realness of it.
It wasn't real -- because a lot of things he said to some of his teammates, that his teammates went back at him. But all of that was kind of edited out of the documentary, if you want to call it a documentary."
Grant claims that Jordan's behavior towards teammates often did verge on bullying and was not as helpful to their improvement as is made out.
He felt that he could dominate me, but that was sadly mistaken. Because whenever he went at me, I went at him right back. But in terms of Will Perdue, Steve Kerr and the young man, Scott Burrell, that was heartbreaking.
To see a guy, a leader, to go at those guys like that. I understand in terms of practicing, you have a push and shove here and there, but outright punching and things of that nature. And calling them the B's and the H's - that wasn't called for.
Grant also angrily denies he was the source for Sam Smith's book, as he did on The Last Dance, despite Jordan claiming it was him.
He thinks it's Jordan's way of trying to discredit anyone who has spoken out against him in the past.
"Lie, lie, lie. ... If MJ had a grudge with me, let's settle this like men. Let's talk about it. Or we can settle it another way. But yet and still, he goes out and puts this lie out that I was the source behind the book. Sam and I have always been great friends. We're still great friends. But the sanctity of that locker room, I would never put anything personal out there. The mere fact that Sam Smith was an investigative reporter. That he had to have two sources, two, to write a book, I guess. Why would MJ just point me out?
It's only a grudge, man. I'm telling you, it was only a grudge. And I think he proved that during this so-called documentary. When if you say something about him, he's going to cut you off, he's going to try to destroy your character.
"Charles Barkley, they've been friends for over 20, 30 years," Grant said. "And he said something about Michael's management with the Charlotte Bobcats or the Charlotte Hornets, and then they haven't spoken since then.
"And my point is, he said that I was the snitch, but yet and still after 35 years he brings up his rookie year going into one of his teammates' rooms and seeing coke, and weed and women. My point is: Why the hell did he want to bring that up? What's that got to do with anything? I mean, if you want to call somebody a snitch, that's a damn snitch right there."
You get the sense that the fallout from the Last Dance won't end here. Scotty Pippen in particular has not spoken about it since it starting airing five weeks ago but is reported to be upset by his portrayal, something Grant also spoke angrily about.
You can listen to the full Horace Grant interview on ESPN Chicago 1000 here.
