Before arriving in Paris for the 2024 Olympics, the U.S. national basketball teams were making more headlines for who wasn’t chosen. At the center of the respective maelstroms were WNBA phenom Caitlin Clark and 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. However, those omissions pale in comparison to the greatest snub in Olympic basketball history: Isiah Thomas being left off the Dream Team. Legend has it that Michael Jordan gave USA Basketball an ultimatum about his biggest rival: either him or me. They chose Jordan, the U.S. captured gold, and basketball around the world was changed forever. But, what if Thomas was part of the greatest roster ever assembled? Would Jordan really have “abandoned” the national team or learned to coexist with his archenemy? Would the squad have been torn into warring factions? And which pitchman would suddenly become the global face of counterculture? Find out on Alternate Routes.

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