Toni Kukoc was disappointed by "The Last Dance's" portrayal of the Bulls' dynasty: "I don't know what people are mad at"

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Kukoc shares why MJ's documentary left him unsettled and what he remembers most from those championship years.

For those who lived through it, the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s dominated and rewrote basketball. The dynastic core of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman became cultural monoliths.

And behind them stood Toni Kukoc, the Croatian import whose silky touch and high basketball IQ added a European rhythm to an already unstoppable machine.

But when ESPN's "The Last Dance" hit screens in 2020, the glossy 10-part documentary stirred more than just nostalgia. It stirred a quiet discomfort.

Last Dance thoughts

It wasn't the spotlight that unsettled Kukoc. After all, he had lived long in the shadows, quietly instrumental to a team that claimed three straight NBA titles from 1996 to 1998. But the docuseries, instead of celebrating the totality of that effort, seemed obsessed with peeling old scars.

"I'm hoping the other episodes are brighter and more of a celebration of basketball instead of who is guilty or to blame and why didn't they win eight championships or 10," Kukoc said. "The world was so happy when that was happening. So I don't know what people are mad at."

Kukoc was never one to seek drama. When he arrived in Chicago in 1993, after being drafted in 1990, he walked into a fractured dynasty. Jordan had just retired for the first time, Pippen was clashing with management and head coach Phil Jackson was balancing egos and expectations.

Yet through it all, Kukoc adapted. Despite early skepticism, particularly from Pippen, who felt slighted by management's obsession with the European newcomer, the Croatian delivered.

His game spoke for itself; he was unselfish, smart and timely. He hit a lot of crucial shots over the course of the season. During the 1994 playoffs, with Jordan absent and Pippen sitting out a crucial final possession in protest, Kukoc nailed the game-winning shot against the New York Knicks. The moment was contentious, but for the team's long-term chemistry, it was pivotal.

Still, The Last Dance leaned heavily into the tension, painting those years through a lens of constant friction and power struggles. Kukoc, watching it all replay years later, struggled to reconcile that depiction with the camaraderie he remembered.

Showing good memories

What got lost in the glare of Jordan's obsession with winning and the front office politics was how much Kukoc actually mattered.

During the second three-peat, he was more than just a role player. He was Sixth Man of the Year in 1996, averaging over 13 points, four rebounds and nearly four assists off the bench. His versatility gave the Bulls breathing room in tight playoff games. His court vision helped orchestrate fast breaks that often started with a Rodman rebound and ended in a Kukoc finish.

Even amid the superstardom around him, he remained steady and a player who didn't need the spotlight to shine. And in those moments behind the scenes, in practices, on team buses, in hotel lobbies, he witnessed a brotherhood that The Last Dance rarely explored.

"I cherish the things we did in practice, that we did on the road," Kukoc reflected. "That team worked so hard and was committed and devoted. We're talking about people who won six championships in eight years and we've got to find a way to find a dark note?"

The frustration isn't rooted in denial. Kukoc is aware that tension existed; no great team survives without it. But in his mind, the real story was always about the collective effort, not the internal clashes.

He remembers a team that worked endlessly to become a global phenomenon. What hurts more than anything is how that joy, which once brought millions together, was reframed as a long, slow unraveling.

Kukoc was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021, with Jordan himself presenting him. It was a quiet full-circle moment, one that acknowledged how far he had come and how integral he had always been. From Split to Chicago, from underdog to champion, his story was always about team above self.

If The Last Dance chose conflict over connection, Kukoc still chooses to remember the best of it because he lived it. Not in soundbites or highlight reels, but in the endless hours of effort that made six banners hang from the rafters of the United Center.

That, for him, was the real dance.