Scottie Pippen Thought Michael Jordan Was ‘Selfish’ For Retiring Right Before The Start Of The 1993-94 Season: ‘It Is Too Late For The Organization To Sign Free Agents’

Scottie Pippen thought Michael Jordan was “selfish” for retiring right before the start of the 1993-94 NBA season. 

Jordan retired in October 1993. His father was murdered in July. 

“You want to know what selfish is? Selfish is retiring right before the start of training camp when it is too late for the organization to sign free agents,” Pippen wrote in his book. “When Michael put the Bulls in that position in 1993, Jerry Krause was forced to bring in a journeyman, Pete Myers, who had most recently played for a team in Italy.”

The Chicago Bulls went 55-27 in 1993-94 without Jordan. They defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 1994 playoffs but lost to the New York Knicks in the second round. 

Pippen took several shots at Jordan in his book. The two Bulls legends are no longer on speaking terms. 

Pippen is upset at Jordan because of how The Last Dance docuseries turned out. The Last Dance was a ten-part docuseries sold as the Bulls’ final championship season in 1997-98.

However, the documentary was a Jordan puff piece and Pippen wasn’t happy.

“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 won six championships and three-peated twice while going undefeated in the NBA Finals during the 90’s. They are universally recognized as the greatest duo in NBA history. 

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

The Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics and Utah Jazz (twice) for their six NBA championships. Jordan won all six Finals MVPs. 

According to Pippen, Jordan received $10 million for his role in The Last Dance but no other players got paid. 

“To make things worse, Michael received $10 million for his role in the doc while my teammates and I didn’t earn a dime, another reminder of the pecking order from the old days,” Pippen wrote. “For an entire season, we allowed cameras into the sanctity of our locker rooms, our practices, our hotels, our huddles, our lives.”

The last time Pippen and Jordan spoke was in 2020.