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Years After Calling Michael Jordan Condescending, Scottie Pippen Slams MJ on Staying Relevant: “I Didn’t Really Need the Credit”

Published 05/27/2023, 5:30 AM EDT

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At first glance, the duo of Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan seems to be as good as it gets. But that’s only on the hardwood floor. After their retirement from the league, Pippen voiced his displeasure about playing alongside Michael Jordan, despite winning six NBA championships with him. And after the release of MJ’s docuseries, ‘The Last Dance’, things only took a turn for the worse between the two Bulls legends.

The Last Dance was released roughly 17 years after Jordan finally hung his sneakers for good. The series was a hit among basketball fans and other viewers. However, Scottie Pippen felt otherwise, to the point that he went on to call MJ ‘condescending.’

Scottie Pippen slams Michael Jordan once again

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Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships in the span of eight seasons in the league. The team’s front office allowed a film crew to document their final title run in the 1997-98 NBA season. Two decades later, it was turned into a documentary for everyone to see.

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The series got a huge appreciation from fans as they got to see MJ’s legacy. But out of the many, Scottie Pippen was one who did not like the way he was portrayed in the documentary. Recently, Pippen made an appearance on Stacey Kings’ Gimme the Hot Sauce Podcast.

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The hosts went on talk about how many guys in the series did not get enough credit, like Pippen himself. When asked to give his take on the documentary, Pippen said, “I didn’t really need the credit. But I thought that it was definitely something that was more geared toward Michael and his perspective of how he saw the team. How he saw himself separate from the team.”

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“I just thought it was really something to hype up his career. To make him more relevant in today’s world,” added Pippen.

Pippen is still taking shots at MJ

The Last Dance certainly was portrayed from Michael Jordan’s perspective, given that it was his documentary. However, Scottie Pippen did not feel that it was narrating the story of how the Bulls won those championships. Instead, it was more to highlight Michael Jordan’s game. During the podcast, he also went on to say, “I felt like it was something that he did to bring himself back and really give this modern-day era an opportunity to see what his playing was like in the NBA.”

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It was pretty clear that Pippen did not like his portrayal in the series, resenting it when it finally came out. The Bulls legend felt that he was nothing more than a prop to MJ, as per NBC Sports, claiming, “He couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried.”

So, do you think he’s a bit inclined to slam MJ and the documentary due to that reason? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Written by:

Abhishek Dhariwal

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Abhishek Dhariwal is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports with a background in journalism and mass communication. Abhishek uses storytelling along with feedback gathering to curate elegant and exclusive content for ES. His writing covers a wide range of topics, from in-game coverage to off-court activities of NBA stars.
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Edited by:

Aayush Kapoor