Scottie Pippen Didn’t Care That Michael Jordan Called Him His Best Teammate Of All Time: ‘He Couldn’t Have Been More Condescending If He Tried’

NBA icon Scottie Pippen ripped Michael Jordan for how ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries turned out. 

Pippen went off on Jordan in his book, “Unguarded.”

“On and on it went, the spotlight shining on number 23,” Pippen wrote. “Even in the second episode, which focused for a while on my difficult upbringing and unlikely path to the NBA, the narrative returned to MJ and his determination to win. I was nothing more than a prop. His ‘best teammates of all time,’ he called me. He couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried.

“On second thought, I could believe my eyes. I spent a lot of time around the man. I knew what made him tick. How naive I was to expect anything else. Each episode was the same: Michael on a pedestal, his teammates secondary, smaller, the message no different from when he referred to us back then as his ‘supporting cast.’ From one season to the next, we received little or no credit whenever we won but the bulk of the criticism when we lost. 

“Michael could shoot 6 for 24 from the field, commit 5 turnovers, and he was still, in the minds of the adoring press and public, the Errorless Jordan.”

Jordan and Pippen are no longer on speaking terms. The NBA legends are arguably the greatest duo in NBA history, but according to Pippen, he and Jordan were never close friends. 

“Michael and I aren’t close and never have been,” Pippen wrote. “Whenever I call or text him, he usually gets back to me in a timely fashion, but I don’t check in just to see how he’s doing. Nor does he do the same. Many people might find that hard to believe given how smoothly we connected on the court. 

“Away from the court, we are two very different people who have led two very different lives. I was from the country: Hamburg, Arkansas, population about 3,000; he was from the city: Wilmington, North Carolina.”

The Chicago Bulls went 6-0 in the NBA Finals and three-peated twice during the Jordan-Pippen era. Both Jordan and Pippen are in the Hall of Fame and have their jerseys retired by the Bulls.

Jordan and Pippen will never speak to each other again since Pippen is upset at Jordan over how “The Last Dance” turned out and Jordan is mad at Pippen after Pippen wrote in his book that he didn’t give him condolences after his father was murdered in 1993. 

“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.”