After the Bulls won in 1992, Michael Jordan cruelly made fun of Jerry Krause while puffing on a cigar. “You Can’t Smoke It, It Will Stunt Your Growth” is the title.

If there are two things we took away from ESPN’s “The Last Dancing” documentary series, it’s that Michael Jordan, the legendary player for the Chicago Bulls, detested general manager Jerry Krause and enjoyed smoking cigars.

When Jordan had free time, he constantly seemed to be cracking jokes about Krause and smoking a smoke.

The 1992 NBA Finals saw the Bulls defeat the Portland Trail Blazers, and both of Jordan’s “hobbies” were on exhibit.

In the locker room after the game, Jordan smoked a cigar, and Krause asked his hero if he could have one. “You can’t smoke it,” Jordan said to Krause as they got closer. It will impede your progress. The amusing exchange was featured in “The Last Dance” episode five.

Due to their lack of height, Jordan and Scottie Pippen made fun of Krause, their general manager, for a variety of reasons.

After the shooting guard fractured his foot in 1985–86, Jordan and Krause’s relationship soured. After Jordan recovered from his injury, Krause and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf placed a minutes limitation on him. Because he had gone over his time limit, Jordan was not allowed to return to a game against the Indiana Pacers near the end of the season on the final possession.

Pippen, meantime, was at odds with Krause because the general manager repeatedly attempted to transfer him behind his back and never renegotiated his contract. Pippen repeatedly screamed at Krause in front of the team on the bus during the 1997–1998 season.

Together, Jordan and Pippen attacked Toni Kukoc during the Olympics in the summer of 1992 in an attempt to humiliate Krause. The superstars of the Bulls were aware of Krause’s affection for Kukoc and his desire to discredit Chicago’s architect by putting Kukoc in the public eye.

In the 1993 NBA Finals, Jordan treated forward Dan Majerle of the Phoenix Suns in the same way. Jordan made it his mission to ruin the Suns star since he knew his general manager was a huge Majerle admirer.

But Krause’s primary grievance, shared by Jordan and Pippen, was that he brought an early stop to the Bulls’ dynasty.

The 1997–1998 season would be Phil Jackson’s final one in Chicago, Krause informed reporters. Even if the Bulls went 82-0 and won the title, Jackson would still have to appoint a new coach after the season, the contentious executive told Jackson in private.

Since Jordan and Pippen enjoyed playing under Jackson, they were incensed. Their loyalty was to Jackson, thus they knew they would probably be cut from the squad at the end of the season.

That is how the theme for “The Last Dance” came to be. Jackson gave a guidebook to each player at the Bulls’ first team meeting of the 1997–98 season, which featured “The Last Dance” laminated on the front page.

Since Krause was thinking ahead, he was a major distraction for the Bulls in 1997–98. Jordan, Pippen, and Jackson, nevertheless, continued to be present in the moment as they guided the Bulls to 62 victories and the NBA Title against the Utah Jazz in the 1998 Finals.

After Jackson and Jordan announced their retirements in the summer of 1998, Krause dealt Pippen to the Houston Rockets.

At the time of his 2009 induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Jordan said he was unaware of Krause’s invitation. The two-time Executive of the Year’s actions in the 1990s never left the six-time Finals MVP.