Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen won 6 championships together on the Chicago Bulls. There is no doubt that they are one of the most iconic duos in NBA history, and their partnership was crucial to the Bulls being able to form what is widely viewed as the most dominant dynasty ever.
Despite their prior bond as teammates, Scottie Pippen has made a lot of negative comments about Michael Jordan lately. One of the reasons Scottie Pippen was upset with Michael Jordan is that he didn’t feel like he and his teammates got enough credit for the Bulls’ dynastic run while pointing out that Michael Jordan got $10 million for his role in The Last Dance documentary, while his teammates weren’t compensated.
Stephen A. Smith has recently blasted Scottie Pippen’s comments and pointed out that The Last Dance documentary got consent from the Chicago Bulls and the other players on the roster at the time.
On top of that, Stephen A. Smith took issue with Scottie Pippen’s words about his feelings of regret that came from not offering condolences to Michael Jordan after his father’s passing. Stephen A. Smith pointed out that Pippen had plenty of time to express that, and claimed that Pippen didn’t give condolences to Jordan “on purpose”. He then claimed that “it’s over” between Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan as a result of that.
The Last Dance was recorded in 1998. Andy Thompson, the brother of Mychal Thompson, the uncle of Klay Thompson, worked for the NBA for years, and obviously followed Michael Jordan around for years. That was with the Bulls’ consent, and Michael’s consent, and the players’ consent. And then they got interviewed two to three years ago before The Last Dance. Everybody signed off on it. All of a sudden that’s Jordan’s fault too?
The most egregious part about this is what was written in the New York Post. When Pippen said “I regret not giving my condolences to Michael Jordan at the passing of his father”. His father passed away after the first three-peat.
So you had year one without Michael Jordan. Year two. You had the three years you were with him for the second three-peat to express your conodlences. You never did it. Michael Jordan never even thought about that until he saw it. The he realized “Wait a minute. You didn’t give me condolences on purpose. I didn’t even think about this.”
He’s crossed a line. Him and Jordan: it’s over. Take it from me: it’s over.
Of course, Pippen not expressing condolences to Jordan after the death of his father is definitely insensitive. There’s no doubt that Jordan would have appreciated those sentiments coming from his best teammate. If Pippen has feelings of regret towards the path he took regarding that, then perhaps the best way would be to contact Jordan and clear things up.
There has been no reported news about whether Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan have spoken after Pippen’s recent comments. Hopefully, the situation between them gets resolved going into the future.
