Scottie Pippen Wasn’t Close Friends With Michael Jordan During Bulls Years: ‘You Can’t Force Intimacy Between Two Individuals’

NBA legends Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan weren’t close friends during their Chicago Bulls years. 

Although Pippen and Jordan had great chemistry on the basketball court, the two NBA icons didn’t speak much off the court. 

“Once the season ended, whether we celebrated with champagne or not, the two of us rarely said a word to each other until training camp in October,” Pippen wrote in his book. “Michael had his circle of friends and I had mine. No one was to blame. You can’t force intimacy between two individuals. Either it’s there or it isn’t.”

The Bulls went an impressive 514-177 in the regular season when Jordan and Pippen played. 

Pippen and Jordan won six NBA championships together. 

Pippen averaged 17.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.9 blocks next to Jordan, while Jordan averaged 31.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.8 blocks alongside Pippen.

“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.”

Many people tend to forget that Jordan never won a playoff series until the Bulls acquired Pippen from the Seattle SuperSonics in 1987, which is why Jordan considers Pippen his best teammate of all time. 

“I would never be able to find a tandem, another support system, another partner in the game of basketball like Scottie Pippen,” Jordan said in Episode 2 of The Last Dance docuseries. “He was a pleasure to play with. He helped me so much in the way that I approached the game, the way I played the game. Whenever they speak Michael Jordan, they should speak Scottie Pippen. Everybody says well I won all these championships, but I didn’t win without Scottie Pippen. And that’s why I consider him my best teammate of all time.”

Pippen and Jordan are no longer on speaking terms.

Pippen is mad at Jordan over how “The Last Dance” docuseries turned out and Jordan doesn’t want anything to do with Pippen after Pippen admitted in his book he didn’t give Jordan condolences after James Jordan was killed in 1993.