Scottie Pippen ‘Had A Little Too Much To Drink’ And Yelled At Jerry Krause On Bulls Bus: ‘When Are You Going To Stop Taking Credit For Drafting Me?’

NBA legend Scottie Pippen hated Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause. 

Pippen despised Krause so much that he once “had a little too much to drink” and yelled at Krause on the Bulls bus. 

“After the game against the Sonics, I had a little too much to drink,” Pippen wrote in his book. “While we were on the bus, I lost my temper and went after Jerry Krause, who was accompanying the team. ‘When are you going to stop taking credit for drafting me and for my career?’ I shouted.”

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 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.”

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 forward 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.

Pippen made seven All-Star teams, 10 All-Defensive teams and seven All-NBA teams as a member of Chicago. 

A Hall of Famer, Pippen finished his NBA career with averages of 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in 1,178 games with the Bulls, Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.