One of the NBA’s best defensive players of all time has got a bone to pick with Michael Jordan.
In his new memoir, Unguarded, former Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen expressed his distaste for Jordan, most specifically for the 2020 documentary they both participated in, The Last Dance.
“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.’ They glorified Michael Jordan while not giving nearly enough praise to me and my proud teammates,” Pippen wrote.
He went on to say that Jordan was mostly “blame” for how the Bulls were portrayed in the show. “The producers had granted him editorial control of the final product. The doc couldn’t have been released otherwise. He was the leading man and the director.”
And in his most scathing remark, Pippen claimed that while Jordan referred to him as his “best teammate of all time,” he “couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried.”
The 10-part series covered the rise of the NBA legend that was Michael Jordan and gave a closer look at the Bulls as they won six championships in the league. It premiered in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively renewing interest in the Bulls dynasty and of course, Michael Jordan.
Most episodes centered on how the NBA‘s best player came to be, something that Pippen always had a problem with. He revealed that he told Jordan that he wasn’t “too pleased” with the documentary.
“I don’t think it was that accurate in terms of really defining what was accomplished in one of the greatest eras of basketball, but also by two of the greatest players — and one could even put that aside and say the greatest team of all time,” he told The Guardian in December.
“I didn’t think those things stood out in the documentary,” he added. “I thought it was more about Michael trying to uplift himself and to be glorified. I think it also backfired to some degree in that people got a chance to see what kind of personality Michael had.”
Art Daniella Sison
