Scottie Pippen has been at odds with Michael Jordan for a while now, and their former Chicago Bulls teammate, Bill Wennington, wants to see them mend fences. Wennington appeared on The Good Shepard podcast, where he revealed he has spoken to Pippen about this beef he has with Jordan.
“Back to Scottie and Michael, I think time will tell,” Wennington said. “I think we are getting older. I’ve had discussions a little bit with Scottie; you got to get rid of your demons. You’ve got to let them out.”
Pippen and Jordan had been on good terms for years following their respective retirements. They spoke glowingly of each other in their Hall of Fame speeches, and the former even had the latter present him on his big day. So, what ruined this relationship?
Well, The Last Dance docuseries. It might have been a huge hit among basketball fans, but Pippen was not happy with it. He has been firing shots at Jordan ever since.
In his book “Unguarded,” Pippen said Jordan couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried. He later claimed The Last Dance was just a means for his former teammate to gain relevance in the modern era. Neither of these came close to being the worst shot that was fired, though.
Pippen once went as far as to call Jordan a horrible player. You’d have expected the latter to fire back at that point, but he didn’t.
The frequency with which Pippen fires shots has gone down over time, but you get reminded every now and then that he still isn’t happy. In March, he took a jab at Jordan in a Mr. Pibb commercial. Pippen called himself the GOAT and subtly highlighted his issues with The Last Dance.
Wennington, who was on the Bulls from 1993 to 1999, understands why there is tension here, but hopes it will go away.
“What is fueling this controversy is what made them so great,” Wennington stated. “That strength that they have, that will and desire to be the best and to work and to push through it and to be better than anyone else. So they’re two very strong-minded people. But I would seriously have them in a room and have them just to look at each other for a minute and realize that we’re not in our early 30s anymore.
“That most of our lives is past,” Wennington continued. “And what we did together is going to be remembered for a long time. Long long after we’re here, people will still talk about that.”
Jordan and Pippen led the Bulls to three-peats from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998. Wennington was part of that second three-peat and wants the latter to bury the hatchet before it’s too late.
“If you’re married or have a brother or sister, you say things when you’re angry sometimes that you know you don’t mean, but they hurt,” Wennington said. “We got to get over that because we’re not going to be here forever. We’re getting older, and we’ve already lost a couple of people from that team, coaches and players-wise.
“And eventually it’s going to be too late,” Wennington added. “… I guarantee you it’s the people that we played with and people that make life special, and you don’t want to say ‘Ah, I should have said something’ because it’s too late and you can’t.”
Wennington is on the money here. You just wish his message got across to Jordan and Pippen. It doesn’t look like they’re listening to him or anyone else on this subject right now, though.
