Isiah Thomas gets candid on Run It Back: Stop romanticizing the ’90s, the NBA has never been better

The Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas surely knows how to put the internet on fire, and that’s what he did with his latest comments. Known for not shying away from a confrontation, Thomas has reignited the most contentious debate in sports: Who’s the greatest? During a January 8, 2026, appearance on the Run It Back show with DeMarcus Cousins and Chandler Parsons, Thomas questioned the logic behind Michael Jordan’s "GOAT" status and why modern NBA is not supporting its players and continuously downplays them in comparison to the last generation. Thomas feels that the current NBA has superior athleticism and record-breaking achievements, and is nurturing the greatest of all time. Isiah Thomas joined the panel of Run It Back on FanDuel TV and dropped some truth bombs. Discussing what the golden era of NBA is, Thomas pointed out that modern NBA has some of the biggest stars, yet their obsession to time and again go back to call the 80s and 90s as the golden era of basketball isn’t fair to today’s players who are putting up numbers and leading charts. He said, “Our era is considered to be the golden era. This is what I don’t understand about your era, right? You guys are playing with arguably the greatest player that ever played, and you do not say this, but y’all treat him like he ain’t nothing.”He continued to add, “Instead of pumping your era up, y’all go back and say our era was the greatest…you know, Michael Jordan was the greatest. Nobody can ever be greater than Michael Jordan. And then you turn around in your era, LeBron James is in there, and he’s holding every single basketball record. I mean every single one of them. You looking at Kevin Durant, you looking at Steph Curry, but then when you say who’s the greatest, y’all talk about the guy who gave y’all some shoes and warmups.”To Thomas, it is dishonest and ignorant to call someone else the greatest when LeBron James has surpassed legendary benchmarks once thought untouchable, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record and Magic Johnson’s assist totals.Also read: “Everything is TBD": LeBron James' wilding reply after turning 41