When you hear a story enough times, it stops sounding like an opinion and starts to feel like the truth. That illusion spreads quickly in the NBA. This is especially true when it comes to figuring out who “the guy” is and who is second in command. Those stories don’t just change how people think over time; they also get into locker rooms.  Making things tense when they weren’t tense before. Years later, voices like Scottie Pippen come back to talk about it all again.

Opening the curtain on stories that were never as simple as they seemed. But the Chicago Bulls legend doesn’t act like most famous people who get angry and make headlines. Pippen chooses a different rhythm—measured, almost understated, yet sharp enough to land every point.

He doesn’t yell to be heard; he lets what he says speak for itself. In a world where Michael Jordan is almost always seen as the best player, 1. Scottie Pippen doesn’t just disagree; he directly questions a belief that people have held for decades as untouchable.

Scottie Pippen’s advertisement masterstroke

The 60-year-old starred in Mr. Pibb’s latest commercial, where he subtly threw shade at Jordan. “Let’s set the record straight about Pibb. When you think about Pibb, you think of what? Second-best?” he said. Van Lathan’s voice said, “Fact check ’em, Pipp.” To this, Scottie said:

“When something has been considered second-best for so long, we just blindly accept it as gospel.”

Now, Van Lathan’s voice added, “A decade-long plot built on marketing, social media.” And Pippen added, “Multi-part documentaries.” Lathan continued, “Pibb took that personally.” Then, Scottie Pippen said, “Yeah, I’ll say it. Pip is the GOAT.” “It’s Pibb,” Lathan corrected. “Don’t correct me.”

Call something second-best long enough—like Mr. Pibb or Scottie Pippen—and it sticks. However, Pippen rewrites the theory. Before him, Michael Jordan kept falling in the playoffs with the Chicago Bulls. But the dynamics of the team shifted once Scottie joined in 1987. Together, MJ and Pippen built a six-title dynasty. Moreover, Pippen locked down stars as the league’s top perimeter defender. However, the tag of the “second-best” player on the team lived with him.

After the 1992 title run and Olympic gold, Scottie Pippen stepped out of the shadows and into stardom, carving a name that finally stood on its own. But Phil Jackson recalled, “Michael came back from the Olympics and he told me Scottie was the second-best player on that team.”

He added, “People knew he was a pretty good sidekick to Michael, but all of a sudden, they were starting to recognize that he was a legitimate star in his own right who had really developed over the prior three to four years…” Although Phil Jackson applauded Pippen for his ’92 Olympics heroics, the second-best tag somehow stuck with the small forward for years. However, repetition sells comfort, so flawed ideas pass unchecked.

So, Scottie Pippen doesn’t agree with Michael Jordan’s big story. A delayed foot surgery during the 1997-98 season kept him from playing more than 44 games. Even though he had a setback, he led the team with 19.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. That was the last time the Bulls were great, because Pippen then went to the Houston Rockets.

At the same time, rankings make Jordan the clear winner, even though Pippen’s All-NBA greatness grew under contracts that weren’t given enough credit, quietly shaping greatness behind the scenes. Scottie Pippen has also talked about a long-term campaign to raise one person’s profile. Michael Jordan became a global superstar in the 1980s and 1990s thanks to Nike’s success, the “Be Like Mike” wave, and Space Jam (1996). He was so famous that his teammates rarely had room in the spotlight.

At the same time, the Chicago Bulls used Michael Jordan to build their marketing machine, making his brand untouchable. Scottie Pippen, on the other hand, was happy with small deals. This imbalance later led to frustration in his 2021 memoir Unguarded. This leads me to Pippen’s disappointment after the 2021 premiere of The Last Dance. The NBA star thought that he was being used as a prop to make Michael Jordan look good.

The Last Dance was all about Michael Jordan

A new Scottie Pippen came out in 2021. He pushed back after The Last Dance focused on the Chicago Bulls from 1997 to 1998. After hearing the noise, Michael Jordan sent him a message, but he was already angry. Pippen thought the series made him and his teammates look like background characters instead of the core of a championship-winning team. He called out the unfairness and pointed to the people who were making the story.

Pippen also said that he felt like a prop in a story about Jordan. He thought the project was more about proving Jordan’s superiority over LeBron James. Even though the documentary talked about his journey, it didn’t feel complete. So, Pippen used his voice to fill in the holes that were left in the final cut.

Pippen thought that even moments that were meant to show his journey always came back to Michael Jordan. He thought the label “best teammate” was condescending and made him feel like a supporting actor. He came to understand that this portrayal wasn’t surprising because he knew how Jordan thought and regretted expecting a story that treated him as an equal force.

“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,” Scottie wrote in Unguarded.

Where does Scottie Pippen stand after years of honest and subtle outbursts? Six rings. Seven All-Star nominations. Seven times chosen for the All-NBA team. Ten teams that play defence. A well-deserved spot on the NBA 75 list. So, his greatness is clear, undeniable, and important in history. But next to him was Michael Jordan, who had six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, a DPOY, and ten scoring crowns.

Pippen was the backbone of the dynasty, but Jordan was the peak. The partnership built everything, and the hierarchy took care of itself. It hurts, maybe. Still, history remembers Pippen as a great player and the second-best player. And it’s hard to say if that story will ever change with all the ads, jabs, and memoirs that tell his side of the story.