Isiah Thomas declined to be in ‘Celtics City’ after being ‘set up’ in ‘The Last Dance’

While he was one of the greatest rivals of the Boston Celtics during the 1980s, Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas will not be featured in the Celtics City docuseries. Thomas explained his reasoning for this, feeling that he didn’t want to risk being “set up,” as he felt happened in ESPN’s 2020 miniseries The Last Dance.

Thomas participated in that miniseries, which chronicled Michael Jordan’s Career with the Chicago Bulls. Five years after its release, Thomas still doesn’t feel like he was treated fairly. With that in mind, he opted against participating in a documentary chronicling another one of his main rivals, the Celtics.

“I decided not to do the Boston documentary because of what Jordan and The Last Dance did,” Thomas said. “They totally set me up and blindsided me. I wasn’t gonna get fooled twice, so I just decided not to participate in the documentary and be able to talk about it. But I wasn’t gonna go on film and sit there and be set up — and potentially be set up again — like I was set up in The Last Dance.”

“I wasn’t going to go on film and sit there, and potentially be set up again”

Hall of Famer, Isiah Thomas, on why he chose not to participate in new doc #CelticsCity@TermineRadio | @JumpShot8 pic.twitter.com/aZkHA8EcW7

— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) March 8, 2025

While generally well received, The Last Dance certainly earned some criticism for how people and events were portrayed.

Thomas’ Pistons met Jordan’s Bulls in four straight postseasons (1988-1991) and three straight Eastern Conference Finals (1989-1991). The early part of the rivalry favored Detroit, who defeated the Bulls 4-1 in the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals, then 4-2 and 4-3 in the 1989 and 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, respectively. Chicago finally overcame Detroit in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals with a resounding 4-0 sweep in a series probably best known for several Pistons — including Thomas — walking off the floor before Game 4 officially ended. A year later, Thomas was not part of the famed Dream Team, which won a Gold Medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Naturally, the Pistons were featured prominently in The Last Dance. They also figure to be prominently featured in Celtics City, as Detroit and Boston were also frequent postseason foes during Thomas’ career. The two teams met in the 1985 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the 1987 and 1988 Eastern Conference Finals, the 1989 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and the 1991 Eastern Conference Semifinals. In that rivalry, the Celtics got the better of the early matchups winning in 1985 (4-2) and 1987 (4-3) while the Pistons dominated the latter portions winning in 1988 (4-2), 1989 (3-0) and 1991 (4-2).