Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan enjoyed tremendous success together on the Chicago Bulls, winning six titles in the 1990s. As great as they were as a duo on the court, though, their relationship off it has been fractured for a while now and Pippen revealed during an appearance on the PBD Podcast that they haven’t spoken since after ‘The Last Dance’ was released.
Patrick Bet-David: “When’s the last time you and Michael spoke?”
Scottie Pippen: “Probably right around the pandemic.”
Bet-David: “Oh, so it’s been a minute since.”
Pippen: “Yeah.”
Bet-David: “Is that the text exchange when he shot you a text May of 2020 and he said, ‘Hey Scottie, I heard you were upset. Let me know when you have a minute to speak?’ Is that the last time you guys spoke?”
Pippen: “Something like that.”
Bet-David: “Did you actually call him? Did you guys talk or did you just text him?”
Pippen: “No, I think we ended up speaking briefly.”
Bet-David: “Did it end up being good? The conversation.”
Pippen: “Yeah, I guess. Good and final.”
Bet-David: “That’s what it was? Good and final? Because of you or because of him?
Pippen: “Just yeah. I don’t want to pick because of who. It’s just good and final.”
Pippen didn’t share any details about their final conversation. The fact that it’s been almost five years since they interacted is incredible and not in a good way.
Pippen was also asked if it was likelier that he or Charles Barkley would be having dinner at Flagler’s in Breakers Palm Beach with Jordan in the next five to 10 years. Quite shockingly, he went with Barkley, which gives you an indication of just how bad things are now between the two former teammates.
We have seen great players who were beefing mend fences in the past, with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant being great examples. They famously had a face-to-face conversation in which they settled their differences, as did Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas.
Bet-David wondered why Jordan has never done anything of that sort and Pippen believes his former teammate is just a difficult person to deal with. He also stated that while Jordan was a great teammate, they were never really great friends. Pippen isn’t interested in fixing a relationship that wasn’t really great, to begin with.
While Pippen and Jordan may never have been the best of friends, it was all good between them in public for years after their retirement. The first cracks only started to emerge after ‘The Last Dance’ came out, as Pippen stated in his book that Jordan couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried in the documentary.
He wasn’t happy with how he was portrayed and took one shot after another at his former teammate in the years that followed. Pippen even went as far as to call Jordan a horrible player at one point.
Surprisingly, though, Pippen recently changed his mind about ‘The Last Dance.’
“I thought it was very positive. I felt, at that time, we needed something positive and good to watch on TV. I felt the documentary was great; I didn’t have anything to do with it, which I was a little disappointed in, but it was a great documentary, and it won some awards.”
Pippen’s opinion of the documentary might have changed but his feelings regarding Jordan haven’t. Don’t expect to find these two having dinner anywhere anytime soon.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
