Scottie Pippen put aside his ongoing feud with Michael Jordan in a recent interview, admitting that his former Chicago Bulls teammate is the greatest player in basketball history.
“Of course, I mean, you look at the MVPs he got,” Pippen told Australia’s “Today Show.”
“I think it all comes from our success as a team,” he continued. “Obviously someone is going to take those honors home. Yeah, he’s definitely the greatest player in basketball.
Of course, it’s no surprise that a former teammate called Jordan the “greatest” player in the NBA, but last year, when former teammate and current Bulls broadcaster Stacey King asked a similar question, Pippen had a different answer .
“LeBron (James) is going to be the greatest statistical figure in the history of basketball,” Pippen said on Mahy’s King’s Gimme The Hot Sauce podcast in 2023. “No one can compare to him.” Not any. So does that make him the greatest player of all time? I will leave this question open to debate because I don’t believe there is one great player because our game is a team game and one player cannot do it.
Pippen traveled to Australia this month to attend the country’s National Basketball League awards banquet and a subsequent speaking tour with former teammates Horace Grant and Luke Longley.
Pippen is a Hall of Famer and a member of all six Bulls championship teams. Grant won three championships in Chicago before moving to Orlando as a free agent in 1994, when Longley joined the Bulls and helped the club win its second three-peat in a decade.
The trio also had some thoughts on their champion Bulls.
Grant, speaking at the NBL Awards, called ESPN’s recent “The Last Dance” documentary about the ’90s Bulls “bullshit,” but Pippen walked back while speaking to his “Today” show co-hosts Criticism of Jordan-backed production.
“I think it’s special,” Pippen said. “I think this is a special moment for us to really relive some of the greatest moments in basketball history. More importantly, a chance to see what team basketball is really like. Yo
“Thinking about everyone sitting at home during a pandemic, this is more of an educational tool for people to see how good the game can be if played the right way. If you can share basketball, there’s no limit to what you can achieve The goal.”
Pippen had previously been very critical of the series. The problem, from his perspective, was that Jordan seemed to be viewed as a contributor to the Bulls’ success in the 1990s, while his teammates were viewed as secondary players.
“They praised Michael Jordan but didn’t give enough credit to me and my proud teammates,” Pippen, 58, wrote in his 2021 memoir “Unguarded.” “Michael deserves a lot of responsibility. part of the responsibility.” The producers gave him editorial control over the final product. Otherwise the file cannot be released. “He’s the lead and the director.”
As a result, Pippen claimed, the documentary felt inauthentic.
“I think that’s not that accurate in terms of really defining one of basketball’s greatest eras and what two of its greatest players accomplished — one could even put that aside and say the greatest team It’s time,” Pippen told The Guardian in December 2020.
“I don’t think those things stand out in the documentary. I think it’s more of Michael trying to elevate himself and get glory. I think it’s counterproductive in a way, too, because people get a chance to see Michael’s character.”
Complicating matters further is the romantic relationship between Pippen’s ex-wife, Larsa, 49, and Jordan’s 32-year-old son Marcus.
In 2022, after the couple was spotted out in public, a source told Us Weekly, “Marcus and Larsa are dating and have been spending more and more time together in recent weeks.” They were trying to keep a low profile because of the rift between Scotty and Michael.”
Pippen and Larsa were married for nearly 20 years, had four children, and divorced in 2021.
Larsa opened up about their relationship on an episode of The Real Housewives of Miami, saying the couple had sex four times a night for 23 years.
“I’ve been married for 23 years and I’ve always had sex four times a night,” she said. “So three times a week is nothing… I have sex four times a night, every night. I’ve never had a day off in 23 years.”
There were recent rumors that Larsa and Marcus might get married, although conflicting reports caused the couple to call off their engagement.