Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, and Michael Jordan have been retired as professional basketball players for over a decade. However, they have been the subject of intense debate within the sports world for the past few months. This was started by Pippen’s blunt thoughtsJordan’s recently published memoir contains more information. Unguarded. The former small forward not only criticized ESPN’s The Last Dance and His Airness’ involvement in it, but he also claimed that his former teammate “ruined” basketball. Numerous former Chicago Bulls players have offered their opinions on the matter. Now, Charles Oakley (who has chimed in before) has a grim assessment of the future of Jordan and Pippen’s friendship.
Charles Oakley spent three seasons with Chicago Bulls. During his last season, he was alongside Scottie Pieppen and Michael Jordan. Although he only played with them for one season, he was still able to compete against them for years and witnessed their dynamic on and off the court. Recently, Oakley hasn’t backed down from questions about the two or The Last Dance (which He thought it was mostly true) and hasn’t minced words. He was so excited to recently appear on The Bill Simmons PodcastHe was asked by a reporter if he would speak to his former teammates again.
It’s over, it’s over. It’s over, yes. It wasn’t great right from the start.
This aligns with Charles Oakley’s past sentiments about the championship-winning duo. He previously addressed Scottie Pippen’s feelings and seemed to respect his thoughts. Oakley speculated that Oakley was wrong. the feud wasn’t actually due to The Last DanceBut to an event that might have happened between Pippen, Michael Jordan, during their playing days. What that might have been the NBA veteran couldn’t say. Even though he doesn’t think the Emmy-winning docuseries isn’t the root cause of the conflict, he did acknowledge its role in Pippen’s apparent displeasure:
He feels that they didn’t give him enough in The Last Dance. They did Dennis Rodman better than Scottie or Steve Kerr. However, Kerr was a better judge than Scottie. Dennis has probably done the same. Scottie was able to do a lot more on that court than the other two, but Scottie felt left out. [the docuseries]. He felt that Jordan wouldn’t have six rings without him.
What may actually be the most interesting part of Charles Oakey’s new comments is the part where he claims that the relationship between the two “wasn’t great from the get-go.”Other Chicago Bulls players you might like Bill Wennington painted an entirely different pictureby their comments. Even hall of famers Dennis Rodman claims that he “never saw”Any kind of animosity or resentment between his teammates.
At this point, it’s honestly hard to argue that the status of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen’s relationship isn’t looking good. Some can’t help but be optimistic and hope that they’ll patch things up, though. Inside the NBA’For instance, Kenny Smith They believe they will continue to talkMany Bulls fans may be hoping for the same. A game of golf? Pippen thought that he could beat Jordan at one timeAt) would be the best option. It will be interesting to see how the relationship between these sports icons develops over time.
Those who’ve yet to see The Last DanceYou can stream it on Netflix or ESPN+.