Scottie Pippen And Michael Jordan Wanted To Embarrass Dan Majerle In 1993 Finals Since Jerry Krause ‘Was In Love’ With Him: ‘Anyone Jerry Was In Love With, We Wanted To Embarrass As Much As Possible’

Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan wanted to embarrass Dan Majerle in the 1993 NBA Finals since Jerry Krause was in love with him. 

Pippen, Jordan and the Chicago Bulls faced Majerle and the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals. 

“Boy, did we want to contain Majerle,” Pippen wrote in his book. “He was a player Jerry Krause was in love with, and anyone Jerry was in love with, we wanted to embarrass as much as possible.”

Pippen and Jordan hated Krause and always made it a point to make him look bad. 

“I knew that Jerry Krause loved Dan Majerle,” Jordan said in Episode 6 of The Last Dance docuseries. “And just because Krause liked him was enough for me. You think he’s a great defensive player? Okay, fine. I’mma show you that he’s not. … I put it in my mindset that if I don’t do this, then they’re gonna consider him on the same level as me. And that motivated me to attack.”

The Bulls beat the Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals. Jordan was named Finals MVP after averaging 41.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.7 blocks in the six-game series. 

Pippen hated Krause so much that he verbally abused the general manager multiple times.

Jordan also made fun of Krause’s height and weight. 

Majerle wasn’t the only player Pippen and Jordan wanted to crush. In the summer of 1992, Pippen and Jordan “set out to make things difficult” for Toni Kukoc in the 1992 Olympics since Krause loved him too. 

Krause was hell-bent on bringing Kukoc from Europe to the NBA despite having Jordan and Pippen and the Bulls legends weren’t happy about it.

“I had been looking forward to this matchup since the schedule came out in early July,” Pippen wrote in his book. “Croatia was the team Toni Kukoc played for — you know, the guy Jerry Krause was in love with. As with Isiah Thomas, this is another subplot of the Dream Team that has received a ton of coverage. Almost as much as the games themselves.

“What has been reported for years is absolutely true. That Michael and I set out to make things difficult for Toni by hounding him every time he touched the ball. He finished with just 4 points, on 2 of 11 from the floor, and committed 7 turnovers, resulting in another blowout for Uncle Sam: 103-70.”

Pippen and Jordan guided the Bulls to six championships in the ’90s. Chicago went 6-0 in the NBA Finals and three-peated twice.