Everyone loves the myth. You’ve seen the posters: MJ and Pip, the caped crusader and his trusty sidekick, standing side-by-side in those iconic red jerseys. We grew up believing they were best friends who just happened to be the greatest basketball duo in history. But the truth? Honestly, it’s a lot more complicated than the "The Last Dance" made it look.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen weren’t exactly the brothers we thought they were.
Sure, they won six rings. They dominated the 90s like nobody’s business. But if you listen to Pippen lately—specifically his recent comments in 2025 and 2026—the "best teammate" narrative has basically crumbled. It turns out that while they were winning championships, they weren't exactly grabbing dinner or hanging out at each other's houses.
The 1994 Mystery: Could Pippen Win Without MJ?
One of the biggest arguments fans have is whether Scottie was just a "product" of Michael's greatness.
He wasn't.
When Michael abruptly retired in 1993 to chase fly balls in Birmingham, Scottie Pippen stepped into the sun. In that 1993-94 season, he put up monster numbers: 22 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. He led the Bulls to 55 wins. That’s only two fewer than they won with Jordan the year before.
🔗 Read more: Big Ten Standings in Football: Why Indiana Just Flipped the Script
He was the All-Star Game MVP. He finished third in regular-season MVP voting.
But there’s a catch. When the playoffs hit and the pressure cooked, the Bulls lost to the Knicks in the second round. People love to point to the "1.8 seconds" incident where Scottie refused to enter the game because Phil Jackson drew up the final shot for Toni Kukoc. That moment defined Scottie’s "leadership" for years in the eyes of critics.
It showed that while Scottie had the talent of a superstar, he struggled with the singular, ego-crushing weight that Michael carried effortlessly.
The Fallout from The Last Dance
The real rift—the one that seems permanent now—didn't happen in the 90s. It happened in 2020.
When The Last Dance aired, the world cheered. Scottie? Not so much. He felt like a "prop." In his memoir Unguarded, he was pretty blunt about it. He hated how Michael got $10 million for the doc while the rest of the team didn't get a dime. He felt the series was just a way for Jordan to prove he was better than LeBron James, using his teammates as background characters to his own legend.
💡 You might also like: Abhishek Sharma and Haris Rauf: Why That Asia Cup Altercation Still Matters
By 2025, the relationship had cooled to basically zero.
Reports from insiders like Sam Smith suggest Jordan wasn't even angry at Scottie’s outbursts; he was just "genuinely hurt." Imagine winning six titles with a guy and then finding out he’s been harboring twenty years of resentment.
It’s heavy.
Then you add the bizarre personal drama. Marcus Jordan, Michael’s son, dating Larsa Pippen, Scottie’s ex-wife. Even if you weren't already feuding, that’s going to make Thanksgiving pretty awkward.
What the Stats Actually Tell Us
If you look at the raw data, the "Jordan couldn't win without Pippen" crowd actually has some ground to stand on.
- Jordan's Playoff Record without Scottie: 0-3 in series. (Technically 1-9 in individual games).
- Pippen's 1994 Run: 55 wins and a deep playoff push.
- The "Unbeatable" Duo: They went 6-0 in the Finals together.
But stats don't tell the whole story. Jordan was the engine; Scottie was the chassis. You need both to win a race, but only one of them is providing the spark. Without Scottie’s perimeter defense and playmaking, Michael would have had to work twice as hard on every possession. Without Michael’s scoring and psychological warfare, Scottie likely wouldn't have the hardware.
The Reality of Professional Relationships
We often project our own ideas of friendship onto athletes.
We want them to be friends because it makes the victory feel "purer." But in reality, the Bulls locker room was a workplace. A high-stakes, high-stress, often toxic workplace. Michael was a difficult boss. Scottie was an underpaid, elite employee who felt undervalued.
👉 See also: New Orleans Saints Arizona Cardinals: Why This Matchup Always Gets Weird
Dennis Rodman admitted in late 2024 that he never really talked to either of them off the court. It was business.
Why It Matters Now
Understanding the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen dynamic helps us understand the modern NBA. We see players today teaming up and wonder why they can't "stick it out" like the Bulls did.
The truth is, even the Bulls barely stuck it out.
The chemistry was purely functional. It was built on a shared obsession with winning, not a shared love for one another. When the winning stopped, the glue dissolved.
If you’re looking for a lesson in all this, it’s basically that you don't have to like the person you work with to be the best in the world at what you do. You just have to respect the work.
To really get the full picture of this rivalry, you should:
- Watch the 1994 Bulls vs. Knicks series to see Scottie as a "Number 1."
- Read the prologue of Pippen’s Unguarded for the unfiltered "anti-Jordan" perspective.
- Compare Jordan’s 1986 stats to Pippen’s 1994 stats to see how their individual peaks differed.
The era of the "Super Duo" might be over in the NBA, but the ghost of MJ and Pip still haunts every championship conversation. They were the gold standard on the court and a cautionary tale off of it.