Charles Barkley was a Hall of Fame player and the NBA‘s 1993 MVP award winner. However, he never could win a championship in his career. Despite teaming up with Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston in 1996, the team could not get over the line. The era was dominated by the Chicago Bulls. So after Michael Jordan had his ‘last dance’ in 1998, the Houston Rockets grabbed Scottie Pippen for the upcoming season. However, things did not go as planned, and Pippen wanted out in his first season leaving Barkley disappointed.
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In an interview for ESPN’s SportsCentury, dated 1999, Scottie Pippen expressed his feelings on Charles Barkley’s disappointment and stated that he did not need to apologize to his teammate. In fact, he felt he deserved an apology as Barkley did not show the will to win. Pippen quoted, “I wouldn’t give Charles Barkley an apology at gunpoint. He can never expect an apology from me. If anything, he owes me an apology for coming to play with his fat butt.”
Having played the majority of his career with Jordan, Pippen was used to the highest level of competitiveness a player can offer. So, when he joined the Rockets, he felt Barkley lacked the drive and the commitment to compete for a championship. He talked about Michael Jordan echoing similar sentiments when they were teammates, and said “He doesn’t show the desire to want to win. That’s my reason for wanting to get away from playing with him anymore because he just doesn’t show the dedication. I probably should’ve listened to Michael (Jordan) a year ago when he said that Charles will never win a championship because he doesn’t show any dedication.”
The six-time NBA champion questioned the 1993 MVP’s professionalism while calling him words like ‘fat’ and ‘selfish’. He went as far as to say that he did not want to waste his career playing for a player who does not show leadership. Pippen quoted, “Charles is definitely one of the guys that need to show more leadership for this ballclub to be successful, and he doesn’t show that to me. He feels that if he gets 10 rebounds and double-figure points, he’s done a good job. But that’s not what the game’s about.”
Jordan reached out to Charles Barkley after Pippen’s interview
After Scottie Pippen’s explosive interview with his teammate – Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan reached out to the former MVP to check on him. At that time, the Chicago Bulls legend was good friends with Barkley. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Barkley told Jordan he was fine and knew the kind of person Scottie Pippen was.
Charles Barkley believed Pippen was long exposed to the NBA players before his comments on the media. Jordan also felt that Pippen could be unreliable. As his teammate for the majority of his career, Jordan had gotten to know him pretty well. Pippen would go on to make derogatory comments about Jordan after retirement, which led to unrepairable damage done to their relationship.
