Michael Jordan had never gotten past the first round of the Playoffs before Scottie Pippen had been drafted by the Chicago Bulls. With Pippen by his side however, Jordan felt as though he had found the perfect running mate. Together, they would get over the Detroit Pistons hump in the 1991 ECF and never looked back.
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The 1990s were dominated by two of the greatest perimeter defenders in the history of the game who also happened to be elite offensive players in their own way. The Bulls bagged 6 championships in 6 tries with Jordan winning Finals MVP honors each time.
Their last title, which came at the expense of their 1997 Finals opponent, the Utah Jazz, was one that was conquered after a great deal of drama. Michael was all in on competing for titles until they were dethroned but Pippen had his own issues with the team, in particular, Jerry Krause.
Scottie Pippen almost got traded away for Tracy McGrady
Pippen was tired of his lousy contract during the beginning of the 1997-98 NBA season. He knew he deserved more and he most certainly did. He would go on to sit out several games at the start of the season but even before this, he was almost sent away in a package from Chicago by none other than Krause.
It was reported around the time of the ‘97 Draft that the Celtics wanted to trade their 3rd and 6th picks of the draft for Scottie Pippen straight up. This would allow them to continue to compete for titles, albeit at a lessened strength, while also preparing for a Jordan-less future.
Eventually, this trade never went down and Scottie remained a Bull. Over the years, the story revolving around this hypothetical is that Michael Jordan himself contacted Bulls management to let them know that he would not play for them if they traded away Scottie. Turns out, this is false.
Jerry Reinsdorf on Michael Jordan never being involved with the Pippen-McGrady dealings
Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Bulls, has recently come out to completely deny what was said above. According to him, Jordan was never in touch with him or management about this supposed trade and that it was him along with Krause who made the call.
“I never heard from Michael Jordan about it. If Krause heard anything from him, he would’ve had to told me about it,” said Reinsdorf.
His reasoning behind vetoing the trade was because he thought ‘long and hard’ about what the fans would’ve wanted. He concluded that fans would want them to go after a 6th championship, hence, the trade dissolved.
