Scottie Pippen Was Shocked When Michael Jordan Told Him He Would Retire In 1993: ‘My Mind Was A Million Miles Away’

Scottie Pippen was shocked when Michael Jordan told him he would retire from the NBA in 1993. 

Jordan retired from the NBA in October 1993. 

“It was Tuesday evening, October 5, 1993. I was on my way to a private box at Comiskey Park to watch the Chicago White Sox take on the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The South Side was buzzing. The White Sox hadn’t been in the playoffs in ten years,” Pippen wrote in his book. “The reporters asked if I had heard a rumor that Michael was going to retire. Yeah right, I told them. And I’ll be starting at third base for the Sox tonight. No really, they said, that’s the word going around the ballpark. I still didn’t believe it, but I decided to reach out to Michael regardless. He was in another private box, having thrown out the game’s ceremonial first pitch. It would be worth a good laugh, if nothing else. He and I were always getting a kick out of the wild rumors people put out there. 

“This was no wild rumor. It’s true, Michael told me. I’m making the announcement tomorrow. I was in shock. I didn’t stick around for the whole game. My mind was a million miles away. Like others on the team, I saw the toll the past season had taken on him — the games themselves, as well as the gambling stories that popped up. And that was before his dad was killed. Some reporters had the nerve to suggest Michael’s gambling debts may have had something to do with the murder. Just when I thought the media couldn’t do any lower, I was proven wrong. Yet during the regular season, and in the playoffs, I never got the slightest indication he was thinking about hanging it out. the competition meant too much to him, and both of us believed there were more championships to come.”

The Chicago Bulls won three straight NBA championships in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Jordan’s father was tragically killed in the summer of 1993. Jordan retired from the NBA and played baseball during the 1993-94 season. 

Pippen wrote in his book that he wore sunglasses at Jordan’s retirement press conference so people couldn’t see him get emotional. 

“Michael sat at the front table with his wife, Juanita, along with Phil Jackson, Jerry Krause, Jerry Reinsdorf, and Commissioner David Stern,” Pippen wrote. “I stood in the back with several of my teammates, wearing shades. I had a feeling I might shed a few tears before the day was over. So what if Michael and I weren’t as close off the court as people assumed? The two of us would forever be linked together on a franchise that won three straight championships. I was overcome with a deep sense of loss as I listened to him explain why he was leaving. That a part of me was leaving, too.”

Jordan returned to the NBA near the end of the 1994-95 season. 

Pippen and Jordan guided the Bulls to three more championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Chicago beat the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 Finals and the Utah Jazz in the 1997 and 1998 Finals. 

Jordan played for the Bulls twice. He averaged 31.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.9 blocks and won five MVPs, six Finals MVPs, three steals titles, 10 scoring titles and one Defensive Player of the Year Award. 

Pippen also had two stints with the Bulls. He averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.9 blocks and made seven All-Star teams, seven All-NBA teams and 10 All-Defensive teams.

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

“The two of us will forever be linked together, the best duo in NBA history,” Pippen wrote. “He helped make my dreams come true, as I helped make his.”