Few teammates have achieved the level of NBA success that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen accomplished. As the cornerstones of the 1990s Chicago Bulls, they put together two three-peats, cementing that team’s legacy as one of the greatest of all time.
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Success doesn’t always equal happiness, though, especially when it comes time to divvy up the credit for making it happen. Even the Beatles didn’t stay together. Though the breakup of the Bulls falls more on team ownership than it does on MJ or Scottie, the fact remains that as the years have passed, the two stars have gone from being unstoppable together to farther and farther apart.
Pippen has long felt slighted by MJ. The former forward has gone out of his way in recent years to say that he didn’t appreciate the way he was portrayed in The Last Dance (which Jordan had creative control over). It probably also doesn’t help that Jordan’s son, Marcus, dated Pippen’s ex-wife, Larsa, for a couple of years.
From everything that’s been reported or speculated, it seems that Pippen and Jordan no longer speak. Considering how great they were together, their former teammate Horace Grant believes it’s high time that changed.
On former teammate Stacey King’s Gimme the Hot Sauce podcast, Grant was asked what it would take for MJ and Scottie to put the drama behind them. “I think it’s gonna take the egos put aside, the pride put aside,” said Grant. “Once that happens, that opens the doors up to communication.”
Grant was there for the first Bulls three-peat before leaving to join the Orlando Magic in free agency. That team had a young Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, but despite their talent, they peaked with just one Finals appearance in 1995.
They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. And seeing that talent alone wasn’t enough made Grant appreciate his time in Chicago and his former teammates even more. “Two of the best leaders I ever played under,” Grant said of MJ and Scottie.
Grant even gave Pippen credit for being “that undeniable leader” once Jordan retired and the Bulls were clearly his team.
Although things are still icy, Grant believes a thaw could be coming. “I talk to Pip a lot, and he’s starting to understand that we’re not getting any younger, at all,” he said. “I’m 60. He’s gonna be 60 in September, so hopefully they have peace. Got my fingers crossed, and my toes.”
Shaq and Kobe Bryant are two legends who had a falling out but eventually reconciled. Their breakup was much more heated than Jordan and Pippen’s. So if the Lakers duo could sort out their differences, then perhaps there’s hope for the Bulls stars to do the same.
