In March 1995, NBA icon Michael Jordan announced his retirement, enthralling the whole sports community.
When Jordan returned to the Chicago Bulls after his baseball career with the Birmingham Barons, one of the main reasons was that Scottie Pippen was still a member of the team.
After the 1993–94 season, the Bulls came close to trading Pippen to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Shawn Kemp. Near the conclusion of the 1994–1995 NBA season, Jordan was able to return to Chicago after the contract was abruptly blown up.
Jordan said to J.A. Adande of ESPN during All-Star Weekend in 2008 that if the Bulls had sold Pippen to the SuperSonics for Kemp in 1995, he probably would have stayed retired.
Jordan remarked, “I could have played with Shawn.” “But without Scottie, I wouldn’t have felt as at ease.”
Pippen was determined to leave the Bulls in February 1995 after learning of the Seattle rumor, and he almost achieved his wish. Chicago was offered two first-round picks by the Los Angeles Clippers, along with the option to trade picks for the next two seasons.
But after hearing his friend Ron Harper compare playing for the Clippers to being incarcerated, Pippen had second thoughts.
Jordan left baseball due to a labor disagreement eight days after the Clippers were unable to get Pippen, and the rest is history.
The Bulls won three consecutive NBA titles in 1996, 1997, and 1998, trailed by Jordan and Pippen. Ironically, they prevailed in six games over the SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals.
In his second stint with the Bulls, Jordan scored 29.4 points per game on average. In addition to three scoring titles, he won three MVPs in the Finals.
Between 1995–96 and 1997–98, Pippen averaged 19.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game.
It’s simple to forget that without Pippen, Jordan never prevailed in a postseason series. That’s presumably why Jordan valued Pippen so highly—he was aware of his worth.
In the 1990s, Jordan and Pippen went unbeaten in the NBA Finals and shared six titles. In the second episode of the ESPN documentary series “The Last Dance,” Jordan discussed his go-to accomplice.
“Scottie Pippen is a tandem, a support system, and a partner in the game of basketball that I could never find,” Jordan remarked. It was enjoyable to play with him. He was a huge assistance to me in how I played and handled the game.
“Whenever Michael Jordan is mentioned, Scottie Pippen should also be mentioned.” When everyone claims, “Well, I won all these titles, but I couldn’t have done it without Scottie Pippen, which is why I think he’s my all-time best teammate,”
Even though Pippen threw a chair on the floor in 1995 and refused to play in a playoff game in 1994, he was an exceptional basketball player.
There’s a reason, after all, why Jordan was never interested in joining the Bulls without Pippen.
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