Charles Oakley’s All-time starting five had a notable absentee: Scottie Pippen. The New York Knicks legend left out his former Chicago Bulls teammate out of his dream starting lineup.
“I’ll probably have to go with Mike [Jordan] at the two,” he told Kevin Garnett on KG Certified. “Vince Carter at the three, I at the four, [Patrick] Ewing at five, and point guard? Well, I played with Steve Francis, so might as well. Trace [McGrady] is my sixth man.”
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It does come off as a surprise that Oakley left out Pippen — a player who joined the Bulls ranks in 1987.
Oakley was traded to the New York Knicks for Bill Cartwright the following year, but he would be familiar with Pippen’s game. At the same time, he didn’t specify why he never even considered the forward.
Charles Oakley Revealed The Relationship Between Michael Jordan And Scottie Pippen Was Over
Scottie Pippen’s unexpected criticism of his teammate and friend Michael Jordan came as a shocker to the world last year.
In a series of interviews and his book, Pippen lambasted the legend for some of his comments, including the one where Jordan had called the forward selfish. Oakley later had his take on the relationship between 23 and 33, saying it was pretty much over.
“Yeah, I think it’s over. It wasn’t great from the get-go. I think they [covered] Dennis Rodman more than Scottie — and Steve Kerr,” Oakley said on the Bill Simmons Podcast.
“But my thing to that is, Kerr did way more off the court than Scottie. Dennis probably has, too. But on that court, Scottie did a lot more than both of them, but Scottie felt like he was left out of there. And he felt like Jordan wouldn’t have six rings if it wasn’t for him…”
It remains to be seen if Jordan and Pippen will ever reconcile. The duo was widely regarded as the best one-two-punch combo in the NBA, and it would be heartwarming to see them share a smile and talk about the old times.
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