The New York Knicks won the NBA championship in 2026 in dominant fashion, posting a remarkable 16-3 record in the playoffs. This wasn’t a run that many saw coming, with the Knicks having more than their fair share of doubters.
Michael Jordan was among the doubters, with rapper Fat Joe revealing the Hall of Famer’s thoughts on the Knicks on his Joe and Jada podcast.
“Mike owe me an apology,” Joe said. “Mike said the Knicks ain’t going nowhere.”
Co-host and fellow rapper Jadakiss also revealed that Jordan said Karl-Anthony Towns is soft. That wasn’t the first time that this label was slapped on Towns. He did manage to change opinions about him during this playoff run, though.
You even had Shaquille O’Neal calling Towns the Finals MVP after the Knicks’ Game 2 win over the San Antonio Spurs. He did fade away a little bit after that, but Jalen Brunson, who won Finals MVP, and OG Anunoby stepped up to ensure the Spurs were put away in five games.
Jadakiss said they had to take Jordan for dinner after the Knicks’ triumph. The 63-year-old might not be too keen on listening to them gloating.
While Jordan at least seemed to be respectfully dismissing the Knicks, the same can’t be said about his former Chicago Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen. Joe revealed the extent to which Pippen dislikes the team.
“I was super cool, and I still think we super cool with Scottie Pippen,” Joe said. “Real cool. When I lived in Miami, he lived in Miami. One day, I’m watching the playoffs, I’m sitting on his couch. [He said], ‘The Knicks ain’t s***. Word to mother, they won’t win a f***ing thing. The biggest b**s. Y’all n****s is cursed.’ This, this. I’m sitting on the couch with Scottie Pippen.
“Like, yo, where’s all this slander coming from, bro?” Joe continued. “He’s talking from the bottom of his f***ing gut, ‘Y’all n****s is trash. [Patrick] Ewing’s trash.’ I said, ‘Yo, this n***a got a real problem with the New York Knicks. He really hate us. I don’t say MJ hate us.”
Now, Jordan wouldn’t really have a reason to hate the Knicks. He always beat them when it mattered most.
Jordan faced the Knicks in the playoffs in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996, and knocked them out on all five occasions. The only time they knocked the Bulls out was in 1994 during his first retirement.
That was Pippen’s best season, too. He averaged 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in 1993-94, and finished third in MVP voting.
Pippen led the Bulls to an impressive 55-27 record, and they’d sweep the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round to set up a meeting with the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. With the series tied at 2-2, referee Hue Hollins called a controversial foul on Pippen at the end of Game 5, which cost the Bulls the game. The Knicks would eventually win the series in seven to end Chicago’s reign atop the NBA.
With Jordan and Pippen leading the way, the Bulls had won three titles in a row from 1991 to 1993. The former’s retirement after that was a blow, but it gave the latter the chance to show he could be the best player on a championship team. It wasn’t to be, thanks to Hollins and the Knicks.
Does that play a part in Pippen disliking the Knicks? Maybe.
Pippen doesn’t get much credit nowadays for the Bulls winning six titles in the 1990s. Jordan gets the bulk of it, and that wouldn’t have been the case had the team won the championship or at least reached the NBA Finals in 1994 without him.
Whatever the reason may be for Pippen’s dislike, the Knicks now deserve all of our respect. It was a fabulous run they went on to end their 53-year title drought.
