It seems that not everything was dreamy with the 1992 Dream Team. The U.S. Olympic team, made up of some of the NBA’s biggest stars had its share of issues that Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum has captured in his book “Dream Team.”
One story in the book details how Clyde Drexler has not let go of his his bitter feelings toward Magic Johnson, who had learned he was HIV positive a year earlier, retired and came back to play in the 1992 All-Star Game. Magic also got to keep his spot on the Olympic team, which rankled Drexler then and now.
Here is the excerpt:
“Magic was always…” And Drexler goes into a decent Magic impression: “‘Come on, Clyde, come on, Clyde, get with me, get with me,’ and making all that noise. And, really, he couldn’t play much by that time. He couldn’t guard his shadow.”
“But you have to have to understand what was going on then. Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he’d run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he’d get all that benefit of the doubt. Magic came across like, ‘All this is my stuff.’ Really? Get outta here, dude. He was on the declining end of his career.”
Drexler had played exquisitely in the 1992 All-Star Game in Orlando, although the MVP award eventually went to Magic, who had been added by Commissioner Stern as a special thirteenth player to the Western Conference roster. “If we all knew Magic was going to live this long, I would’ve gotten the MVP of that game, and Magic probably wouldn’t have made the Olympic team.”
