NBA stars tend to make a lot of money throughout their careers. Especially the players that make it to the top of the league and contribute to winning championships are often rewarded with huge contracts. While Scottie Pippen may have been underrated and underpaid for a lot of his career, he still made a significant sum of money during his days playing in the NBA and after.
The amount of money star athletes have makes them prime targets for people who need it, whether it be legitimately for businesses, or illegitimately for other purposes. If a star is seen doing something inappropriate that can be turned into an actionable suit against them, then people will try to milk them in the courts for as much as they can from them. And Pippen had to deal with a situation like that after an altercation with a fan.
That alleged altercation Scottie Pippen got in outside a restaurant? He now has a $4 million lawsuit against him: http://t.co/5bsqMSpiPp
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 12, 2013
The incident took place almost a decade ago now, but it could have cost Pippen serious cash. The fan filed for a suit worth $4 million considering that his injuries forced him to visit the hospital. And even though he might have had a case, Pippen managed to narrowly avoid having to pay the fine, as the court could not determine whether he was the aggressor or had acted in self-defense.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Scottie admitted to having spat on the fan at some point, which is quite damning, but it still didn’t lead to him losing the case against the man. It’s difficult to tell what exactly went down between the two men, but it seems that the Bulls legend walked away from it better off.
A large part of that had to do with the fact that his accuser, Camran Shafighi, allegedly faked several injuries as well as seizures to make Pippen look bad. The whole situation reeks of unsavory behavior overall, and the takeaway from it should be that athletes need to be more careful about where and with whom they get involved in interactions with.
