Michael Jordan Felt ‘Terrible’ Losing 25-Year Relationship With Scottie Pippen, Reveals Phil Jackson

Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan have not had the sort of relationship that is expected of teammates who have accomplished a lot together.

Michael Jordan Felt ‘Terrible’ Losing 25-Year Relationship With Scottie Pippen, Reveals Phil Jackson

Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen (Image via FirstSportz)

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Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen won 6 NBA championships under the tutelage of Phil Jackson. After that run, the three parted ways, and the two teammates lost touch.

As depicted in The Last Dance, there were some not-so-great feelings between them, especially when His Airness revealed that his teammate did not reach out to him after his father’s death.

In his post-retirement career as a basketball analyst, Pippen praised his former teammate. But he soon changed course, especially after his ex-wife started to get intimate with Jordan’s son, Marcus.

Charles Barkley believed that the relationship destroyed any inch of respect Scottie Pippen had for Michael Jordan. The latter, though, did not feel good about losing his ‘friend.’

When some of those things came out, we talked about this in the book that Phil had asked Michael about that and Michael really expressed regret. I thought it was really poignant that Michael told Phil that he feels terrible about losing the relationship with Scottie. You know, a 20-25-year relationship that was closer than a lot of people thought.

Sam Smith revealed

This was Sam Smith, longtime Chicago Bulls reporter, who chimed in when Phil Jackson was talking about how Jordan called him to talk about a situation Pippen had got into. The forward had refused to play during the final play of Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Smith and Jackson’s words suggest the 5-time league MVP was unhappy with the way their relationship had panned out. After winning 6 titles and battling through many more seasons, they were not on speaking terms.

Phil Jackson talks about his relationship with Scottie Pippen

Usually, when a group of people accomplishes something together, they generally have good memories about each other. That is not the case with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Phil Jackson.

Even though the North Carolina alum and his head coach have stayed in touch, Pippen has been distant. He even labeled his former teammate and coach as people with ‘huge egos’.

But he was not going to bow down to them. Host of the show, Dan Patrick, asked the 11-time champion coach about his relationship with Pippen, to which he replied:

I was an assistant coach when Scottie came into the game, and I played with him and against him one-on-one and tried to help his game out a little bit. I was big in promoting Scottie because we had Scottie coming off the bench… I had a lot of admiration for him. So, yeah, it was shocking to hear the comments that he made.

Phil Jackson said

Jackson believes he has always done right by his former player. This is why he was surprised that Pippen did not hold him in a similar regard.

Scottie Pippen was crucial to Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson’s legacies

Phil Jackson was an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls when he tried to promote Scottie Pippen from the bench. That went a long way to helping the former land the head coaching job, and also the latter in becoming one of the greatest players of all time.

Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, and Phil Jackson
Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, and Phil Jackson (Image via NBA/X)

Without Pippen, Jordan and the Bulls were not close to being the dominant selves they eventually became. Therefore, without his otherworldly defense and IQ, the team might not have even won 6 titles.

That would have significantly changed the legacies of Jordan and Jackson. Neither might have been named as the best ever in their respective categories.

Their disconnect was evident when Jordan and Pippen joined the Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremony via video. Basketball fans are still holding out hope that there will come a time when the three will put their disagreements aside and reunite.

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