Luc Longley has been ominously quiet on Michael Jordan

After Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Denis Rodman, Luc Longley was as significant as any Bull to the second three-peat, the team’s starting center and a key piece in the final season of Jordan’s time with the Bulls. But the 7-foot Australian is not heard from in “The Last Dance,” the 10-part ESPN documentary on …

After Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Denis Rodman, Luc Longley was as significant as any Bull to the second three-peat, the team’s starting center and a key piece in the final season of Jordan’s time with the Bulls.

But the 7-foot Australian is not heard from in “The Last Dance,” the 10-part ESPN documentary on that final season. He hasn’t been heard from in any non-documentary interviews either, having reportedly changed his number to avoid interviews. Director Jason Hehir said Longley, who lives in Australia, wasn’t interviewed for budgetary reasons. Longley isn’t mentioned in the show, which focuses on the Bulls’ 98 title while jumping back to Jordan’s rise in the NBA, until the eighth episode.

Longley has previously documented a rough start to their relationship when Jordan returned from his hiatus to rejoin the 1994-95 team. The two would later form a bond, according to Longley.

Former Aussie NBA player Chris Antsey has his own take during the time his Bulls team has become a cultural phenomenon again.

“My bet is that Luc is not silent to those around him,” Antsey wrote on Facebook. “He is likely sharing a much broader perspective on the phenomenon that he was a part of. He is unlikely silent to those who are interested in more than the three and a bit seasons he lived in the center of the sporting world. Luc’s generosity with his time and advice normalized the NBA for me. He made it ok to not be fully absorbed in my ‘basketball persona’ and to keep a broader perspective on life.

“I hope to have another beer with Luc Longley one day. I promise not to ask him about Michael Jordan.”

Follow us on Google News