Getty Image / Vincent Laforet
Since the end of the 90s Chicago Bulls dynasty, Scottie Pippen’s relationship with Michael Jordan has really soured.
For whatever reason, Pippen can regularly be found taking shots at His Airness for any reason he can think of.
Today, Pippen was asked about the greatest player of all time debate. Pippen has regularly put LeBron James at the top of his list, so it was no surprise when he said the LeBron is probably the greatest statistical player.
What was surprising was when he told Stacey King on his “Gimme The Hot Sauce” podcast that Michael Jordan was a horrible player.
“He was a horrible player. He was horrible to play with.”
Scottie Pippen talking about MJ 😳
(h/t @DieHardCBfans) pic.twitter.com/kvVLDKfmxW— Overtime (@overtime) May 26, 2023
“I’d seen Michael Jordan play before I came to play with the Bulls. You guys have seen him play. He’s a horrible player,” Pippen said. “He was horrible to play with. He was all one-on-one, he’s shooting bad shots, and all of a sudden we become a team and we start winning. Everybody forgot who he was.”
Pippen hating on Michael Jordan isn’t anything new, but this is simply a ridiculous statement to make.
There is just no world where you can make the argument that Jordan was a horrible player before Pippen came along.
Jordan played 3 seasons before Scottie Pippen joined the Bulls. In the first of those seasons, MJ won Rookie of the Year while averaging 28.2 points per game. He also couldn’t have been too terrible to play with as he averaged 5.9 assists per game.
He missed most of his second season in the league, but in year 3, he was absolutely dominant.
Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game in his 3rd year in the league, a number that has only been beaten by Wilt Chamberlain.
You simply can’t make the argument that Michael Jordan was a horrible player.
Maybe one of these days Scottie Pippen will give up on this one-sided beef. Until then, we’ll probably continue to get ridiculous takes from him on the greatest player in NBA history.