Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen wrote in his book, “Unguarded,” that he has never asked Michael Jordan if the NBA secretly suspended him for the 1993-94 season due to gambling.
Jordan shockingly retired in October 1993 after leading the Bulls to the 1993 championship against the Phoenix Suns in June.
“Only I couldn’t help but wonder then, and still wonder today, was there more to it? I’ve never summoned the courage to ask Michael, and no, I don’t believe the rumors that the league was planning to suspend him because of his gambling,” Pippen wrote in his book. “Seriously, why would the NBA shut down its No. 1 attraction, who was still at the height of his powers?”
Jordan took a limo from New York to Atlantic City to gamble with his father the night before the Bulls lost Game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks. The New York Times broke the story and Jordan was heavily attacked by the media and fans.
Richard Esquinas, a one-time general manager of the San Diego Sports Arena, then wrote in his book that Jordan owed him more than $1.2 million in gambling debt. Jordan spoke to the NBA about his gambling habits and said he was not betting on NBA games.
“Richard Esquinas, we met from a third party,” Jordan said in The Last Dance doc. “I’m actually playing golf with people all the time now. And if they wanna gamble, we gamble. The character of those individuals, I find out later what kind of people I was playing with, I learned that lesson. But the act of gambling, I didn’t do anything wrong. … I never bet on games. I only bet on myself and that was golf. Do I like to play blackjack? Yeah, I like playing blackjack. There’s no laws with that. And the league did call me and they asked questions about it and I told them exactly what was happening.”
Jordan and the late David Stern said in The Last Dance doc that there was no secret suspension in 1993-94. However, many fans and media members don’t believe Jordan and Stern.
In the summer of 1993, Jordan’s father was tragically killed. Some media members speculated that Jordan’s father was killed because of his son’s gambling debt, which was ridiculous to say.
Jordan returned to the Bulls near the end of the 1994-95 season. He and Pippen won three more championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998 to finish their legendary careers with six rings.
Chicago three-peated twice and went undefeated in the NBA Finals in the Jordan-Pippen era. Jordan and Pippen are universally recognized as the best duo in NBA history.
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