Scottie Pippen Verbally Abused Jerry Krause Multiple Times In Front Of Bulls Players: ‘Couldn’t Tolerate Him Anymore’

During the 1997-98 NBA season, Scottie Pippen cursed and yelled at Jerry Krause in front of Chicago Bulls players on the team bus. 

Pippen “couldn’t tolerate” Krause anymore.

Krause tried to trade Pippen during the summer of 1997 and never extended the NBA icon’s contract.

“That really is what sort of tarnished my relationship with Jerry,” Pippen said in Episode 2 of The Last Dance. “He tried to make me feel so special, but yet he was still like willing to trade and do all that stuff, but never would tell me to my face. After you’re in the game for a while, you realize that nobody is untradable, but I felt insulted. I sort of took the attitude of disrespecting him to some degree. 

“Couldn’t tolerate him anymore. Didn’t respect him.”

In November 1997, Pippen demanded a trade from the Bulls and said he wouldn’t come off the injured list until he was gone from Chicago. The NBA legend delayed surgery on his foot on purpose as his way of thumbing his nose at Krause.

Pippen could have had surgery in the summer of 1997, but he had it during the 1997-98 season. 

“I’m done here, you what I’m saying? You’ve already written my script out that this is it,” Pippen said in The Last Dance. “So I had to do what was best for me.”

The Bulls didn’t trade Pippen, who made his 1997-98 season debut in January against the Golden State Warriors. 

After the Bulls won their sixth title in 1998, Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan retired and Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets.

Pippen signed a five-year, $67.2 million contract as part of the sign-and-trade deal between the Rockets and Bulls in 1998. The Arkansas native finally got paid and no longer had to deal with Krause.

One of the best players in NBA history, Pippen had two stints with the Bulls. He averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.9 blocks.