Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen Will Never Be Friends Again After Pippen Admitted He Regrets Not Giving Jordan Condolences After His Father Was Murdered: ‘It’s Over’

NBA legends Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen will never be friends again after Pippen admitted in his book that he regrets not giving condolences to Jordan after MJ’s dad, James Jordan, was murdered. 

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith spoke to Jordan in November 2021 after Pippen’s book came out. 

“His father passed away after the first three-peat,” Smith said. “So you had year one without Michael Jordan, year two. You had the three years you were with him for the second three-peat to express your condolences. You never did it. Michael Jordan never even thought about that until he saw it, and then he realized, ‘Wait a minute, you didn’t give me condolences on purpose. I didn’t even think about this.’ He’s (Pippen) crossed the line. Him and Jordan, it’s over. Take it from me. It’s over.”

Here’s what Pippen wrote in his book that made Jordan furious: 

“Another opportunity, if you can call it that, came during the summer of 1993, and I feel horrible every time I think about it,” Pippen wrote. “Michael’s father, James Jordan, had been murdered. The two were inseparable. When I heard the news, I should have reached out to Michael right away. Instead, I went through the Bulls’ PR department, and once they told me no one from the organization had been in contact with him, I gave up. Having lost my own dad three years before, I might have been able to offer Michael some comfort. To this day, he and I haven’t spoken about his father’s death.”

Jordan and Pippen won three NBA championships before James Jordan was killed and three more after the funeral. Pippen had numerous chances to talk to Jordan about James Jordan’s death, but he never did. 

Pippen wrote in his book that he has plenty of friends and doesn’t get too upset that he and Jordan aren’t close. However, Pippen admitted he “missed some openings” that could have brought him closer to Jordan.

“I don’t usually allow our lack of closeness to bother me,” Pippen wrote. “I have plenty of friends. Yet there are occasions, and watching the doc was definitely one, when I think about the relationship I wish the two of us had, and it hurts. It hurts a lot. By no means am I an innocent party here. I missed some openings that might have made a difference, and I have to live with that.”

Pippen is angry at Jordan over how “The Last Dance” docuseries turned out since Jordan had editorial control over the docuseries. Pippen took several shots at Jordan in his book. 

“God, I hated that term and being referred to as Robin to his Batman,” Pippen wrote. “Someone he felt he needed to pull along to approach every game and practice as intensely as he did; me, a team-oriented purist, offended when he tried to win games by himself.”

In Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, Jordan passed the ball to Steve Kerr for the game-winning shot. The media praised Jordan for passing the ball to Kerr.

However, Pippen wrote in his book that there was nothing heroic about what Jordan did.

“In Game 6 of the same series, I deflected an inbounds pass in the closing seconds when the Jazz had a chance to tie the game or take the lead,” Pippen wrote. “The steal was in the doc. Only no emphasis was given to who actually made it. The focus was on how unselfish Michael was by throwing the ball to Steve Kerr, who hit the winning jumper, just as Michael kept passing it to Paxson down the stretch in Game 5 of the 1991 Finals against the Lakers, when we captured our first championship. There was nothing heroic about what Michael did. Finding the open man was what Phil and Tex drilled into us from day one.”

Jordan and Pippen won six NBA championships together. They are arguably the greatest duo in NBA history. 

However, Pippen and Jordan will never talk to each other again and that’s pretty sad.