“Michael Jordan would not have made the 1996 NBA Finals without me”: Scottie Pippen talks about the Sonics trading him in 1987 while taking shots at the ‘GOAT’

Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan would not have made it to the NBA Finals if the Sonics hadn’t traded Scottie on draft night in 1987. 

Scottie Pippen has been on his own, personal tirade if controversial statements this past week or so. He’s taken shots at Charles Barkley, Kevin Durant, Stephen A Smith and many more in hopes to stir up more talk about his upcoming memoir. Now, it seems as though he’s shifted his focus to his previous championship teams and is going after Michael Jordan. 

He started off his takes on the 90s Chicago Bulls by claiming Phil Jackson was racist for trusting Toni Kukoc with a last second shot in the 1994 NBA Playoffs over him. This certainly was not true as Kukoc was simply the better shooter between the two. Besides, Michael Jordan was always given the go-ahead shot with the game on the line and he most certainly is not of Caucasian decent.

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Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, though didn’t share an equal amount of limelight, did share the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow 6 times in a span of 8 years. However, with all the talk being about Jordan, Pippen seems to want to make the record straight. 

Scottie Pippen firmly believes Michael Jordan wouldn’t have made the 1996 NBA Finals without him. 

A great sliding doors moment in the history of the NBA is one where the Seattle SuperSonics decide to trade Scottie Pippen, the 1987 NBA Draft’s 5th overall pick, to the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan hadn’t been out of the first round ever, that is, until Pippen showed up.

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In a recent segment with Dan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show, Pippen claims Jordan wouldn’t have even sniffed the NBA Finals, especially in 1996, if the Sonics didn’t trade him away on draft night. This statement came after Patrick asked Scottie what it would’ve been like to face off against Michael Jordan as a Sonic in the 1996 NBA Finals. 

In all fairness to Scottie, as mentioned before, Jordan had never experienced the level of success he experienced with the All-Defensive forward, when without him. However, to claim that a talent like MJ would not have reached the Finals without him at least once is outlandish.