Scottie Pippen Wasn’t Upset Like Horace Grant That Michael Jordan Didn’t Go To White House After Bulls Won First Title In 1991: ‘Michael Had Earned The Right To Do Whatever He Wanted With His Own Time’

Scottie Pippen wasn’t upset like Horace Grant that Michael Jordan didn’t go to the White House after the Chicago Bulls won the 1991 NBA championship. 

Here’s what Grant said after Jordan skipped the Bulls’ White House visit: 

“I’m very disappointed because it was a great honor for the whole city of Chicago as well as the Bulls organization. Not to have your best player and your team leader there is just like sending somebody else besides George Bush to Saudi Arabia.”

Pippen, who won six NBA championships with Jordan, wrote in his book that Jordan “earned the right” to do whatever he wanted to do in his spare time. 

“Now I think the world of Horace, always have, and I understood how much the double standard that Doug Collins — and to some extent, Phil Jackson — allowed to exist between Michael and the rest of the team bothered him,” Pippen wrote. “Only here was an occasion, and there were certainly others, where he should have kept his opinion to himself. The season had yet to begin. Michael had earned the right to do whatever he wanted with his own time. That included not going to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Before long, Michael and Horace made up and the whole episode was forgotten.”

According to NBA reporter David Aldridge, Jordan was gambling with Slim Bouler while the Bulls were at the White House in 1991. 

“So the Bulls win in ’91,” Aldridge said in The Last Dance doc. “They win the championship. You go to the White House when you win the championship. Except Jordan didn’t show. He said, ‘Time with family. I gotta be…’ No, he was out gambling with Slim Bouler.”

Bouler was a golf hustler, and in December 1991, he was indicted on drug and money laundering charges. Federal agents found a check made out from Jordan to Bouler for $57,000. 

Jordan was a witness in the Bouler case and the NBA legend admitted in court that he was repaying Bouler a gambling debt. 

Jordan is universally recognized as the greatest player in NBA history. He averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.8 blocks with the Bulls and Washington Wizards.

Jordan won five MVPs, one Rookie of the Year Award, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, six championships, six Finals MVPs, 10 scoring titles and three steals titles with the Bulls. 

A Hall of Famer, Jordan is first in NBA history in points per game, fourth in steals, fifth in field goals and second in player efficiency rating.