The iconic duo of Michael Jordan and Scottie was the driving force behind the Chicago Bulls’ dominant run during the 1990s. The two superstars were part of the legendary run of the Bulls, where they won six NBA Championships.
They did so by never losing an NBA Finals and completing three-peats on two separate occasions. However, the duo and the rest of the Bulls separated after the 1998 NBA Finals.
While there were many reasons for that decision, the then-General Manager of the Bulls, Jerry Krause, played a huge role in that as well. But do you know, the superstar duo of MJ and Scottie was almost broken by Krause during the 1997 NBA Draft?
Yes, Krause wanted to trade Pippen to get Tracy McGrady to the Bulls. In a recent interview, McGrady revealed how did that conversation went and why the trade talks were broken.
“Draft night, I almost got traded for Scottie. The night before the draft, Jerry Krause called my agent, got me up 12 o’clock at night, had me got to a secret location to take a physical. It was about to go down, but MJ made the calls, ‘Yo, if y’all do that, I’m retiring.’ So he stopped that real quick.”
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There is no doubt that McGrady was a talented young player at the time, but replacing Scottie Pippen is not an easy task. Even more so, when Pippen had amazing chemistry with Jordan for years.
At the end of the day, if it wasn’t for the threat from Jordan, fans would have seen Mike’s second retirement a season earlier.
Ultimately, Jordan technically vetoed the trade and the result of that was seen the next season when MJ and Pippen won their sixth NBA Championship together.
As for T-Mac, he was drafted by the Toronto Raptors. But he truly became a superstar after joining the Orlando Magic and made fans fall in love with his insane ability to score with ease.
