In an appearance on ‘The Today Show’ Australia, NBA legend Scottie Pippen gave an interesting response when asked if Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever. Without hesitation, he named Michael Jordan as the GOAT, contradicting his earlier statements and affirming that his former teammate is better than LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, or any other superstar.
“Oh, for sure,” said Pippen. “You look at the MVPs he was able to achieve but I think it was all brought from us being successful as a team obviously someone’s gonna bring those accolades home but he was the greatest player in basketball.”
6-time NBA champion, 2-time Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is down under for the NBL finals tipping off tomorrow night! 🏀 #9Today pic.twitter.com/NhJsTbMTtI
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) February 26, 2024
Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan won six championships together with the Bulls, going 6-0 in the NBA Finals to mark a historic run in basketball history. While Pippen’s role on those title teams cannot be understated, the credit ultimately goes to Michael Jordan for powering the Bulls through such a dominant stretch of play.
As a 6x champion, 5x MVP, 10x scoring champion, and 14x All-Star, Michael Jordan’s resume is incomparable in NBA history. In 15 seasons, he averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game on 49.7% shooting. He was an 11x All-NBA player and a 9x All-Defensive player who had no weakness in his game.
Through sheer talent, athleticism, and willpower, Jordan completely dominated the NBA through the 1990s and was once the most famous person on the planet for his mystical legacy. By the time he retired for the first time in 1998, he was recognized as the GOAT by almost everyone, and many people today continue to defend that claim, including Gilbert Arenas, Jayson Tatum, Jay-Z, Charles Barkley, and many more.
Scottie Pippen is just the latest one to join that list and his opinion on this matter holds more weight than the rest given his first-hand experience with the Bulls legend. Still, it’s shocking to hear Pippen show support for Jordan when he was going out of his way to bash him not too long ago.
Scottie Pippen Finally Recognizes Michael Jordan As The GOAT
Everything was golden between Pippen and Jordan after winning six straight championships and the two were believed to have built an unbreakable bond. But after the premiere of ‘The Last Dance’ documentary in April of 2020, things changed between the former teammates.
Pippen was reportedly distraught by the show and retaliated by going on a public smear campaign against the Bulls legend. He called Michael Jordan “selfish” for retiring back in 1993 shortly before saying that Jordan wasn’t any better than himself on the court.
In November of 2021, Pippen made his most blasphemous comment of all, ripping Michael for “ruining basketball” because he wanted everything done for him. By all accounts, Pippen and Michael were not on speaking terms and it was questionable if they would ever reconcile after all the things that were said.
It wasn’t until Jordan apologized in January of 2022 that Pippen came to his senses and finally calmed down on the hot takes– and now it appears he’s back on somewhat good terms with his former teammate. As for the GOAT himself, he won’t be losing any sleep over how his teammates, or anyone else, are ranking him but true students of the game wouldn’t dare to place Jordan lower than 2nd on the all-time list.
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