When ESPN debuted The Last Dance, it was billed as an inside look at the Chicago Bulls teams that won six championships in the 1990’s.
Of course, as we now know, it was just Michael Jordan’s version of events, as he had sole control over every aspect of the film.
But despite creating what essentially became his own propaganda film, Jordan has now admitted he does have one regret about the documentary.
Everyone knows that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all-time.
In fact, considering the players who have come after him, it’s really not even close at this point.
Jordan has reached a level that makes him nearly untouchable for other players looking to eventually take the GOAT mantle.
But part of Jordan’s greatness is his competitive fire – a desire few humans possess that forces them to not only beat their competition, but outright destroy them.
He has always had to leave no doubt in anyone’s minds that he’s the greatest of all-time, and that’s apparently even stretched into his post-basketball life.
At least, that’s the only explanation for why the greatest of all-time would feel like he had to make a 10-part documentary series to help add to his legacy.
Make no mistake, The Last Dance was basically just a propaganda film produced by Jordan to remind everyone almost twenty years after he last played a game how great he is simply because Jordan thought everyone needed a reminder.
But through all of the vanity, Jordan apparently has one regret about the documentary, and surprisingly, it’s not that he didn’t talk enough about himself.
During an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Company, Jordan admitted that he regrets The Last Dance didn’t feature his former Bulls teammate, Luc Longley, who is Australian.
“I can understand why Australia would say, ‘Well, why wouldn’t we include Luc?’ And we probably should have,” Jordan said. “And if I look back and could change anything, that’s probably what I would have changed.”
Michael Jordan says he regrets not including Luc Longley, the starting center from the second three-peat, in 'The Last Dance.' 🤨 https://t.co/DduXJgnjyG pic.twitter.com/TPoiXBVUHv
— theScore (@theScore) August 3, 2021
At 7’2, Longley was the Bulls starting center for most of their second three-peat from 1996 to 1998, averaging a career-high 11.4 points per game during the team’s final championship season.
Longley had previously spoken out about being disappointed by the fact that Jordan didn’t include him in the documentary, saying he really doesn’t understand why he wasn’t mentioned.
“Sitting there on the couch and watching episode after episode where I wasn’t in it – yeah, I was bummed about that,” Longley told the Australian Broadcasting Company. “Why was I not in the doco? I don’t really know, to be honest.”
Longley knew he wouldn’t be a major part of the film, but went on to say that he really wanted to be a part of the documentary for the sake of kids growing up like he did in Australia.
“I didn’t expect to be a heavy feature in it because they hadn’t interviewed me, but I did expect to be in it more than I was,” Longley continued. “I would like to have been in the doco so that Australian kids saw that there was an Australian in that team doing that thing.”
Longley wanting to at least be credited with the pivotal role he played in the Bulls winning those three consecutive championships is completely understandable, and as Jordan admitted, he should have been featured more.
In Jordan’s defense, though, there are a ton of characters from those Bulls teams – guys like Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Horace Grant, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr, John Paxon, Toni Kukoc, and others – that are higher in the pecking order than Longley.
Nevertheless, The Last Dance was a 10-part documentary that has a running length of over eight hours, so it’s hard to say there wasn’t enough time to also mention Longley.
Besides, it’s not like Jordan couldn’t have just talked about himself for five fewer minutes than he did.
