Six rings. Two three-peats. A 72-10 season that felt like a fever dream for anyone living in Chicago in the nineties. If you watched the Bulls back then, you didn't just see a basketball team. You saw a machine. Michael Jordan was the engine, sure, but Scottie Pippen was the chassis, the tires, and the steering wheel all rolled into one. They were the gold standard for how two stars were supposed to coexist.
But honestly? The "best friends" narrative was always a bit of a stretch.
In 2026, looking back at the wreckage of their relationship, it’s clear that the bond between Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen was forged in the heat of competition, not over quiet dinners or family vacations. The cracks weren't just the result of a documentary. They were deep-seated, decades-old resentments that finally boiled over when the cameras stopped rolling and the legacy-building began.
The Myth of the Dynamic Duo
We love a good sidekick story. Batman and Robin. Sherlock and Watson. Fans projected that onto Mike and Scottie because it made the winning feel more wholesome. If they were brothers-in-arms, then the six trophies were a testament to friendship.
The reality was much more transactional. Scottie Pippen has been very vocal lately—especially in his 2021 memoir Unguarded and various 2025 interviews—about the fact that he and Michael were never "tight" off the court. They didn't have each other's phone numbers for years. When Michael’s father, James Jordan, was tragically murdered in 1993, Scottie didn't reach out. He later admitted he didn't have the number and was dealing with his own grief, but for Michael, that was a sting that never quite went away.
Basketball was their bridge. Between the lines, they were psychic. They pushed each other in practices that were reportedly more violent than most playoff games. But once they clocked out? They went their separate ways.
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The Last Dance was the Last Straw
For twenty years after their final game in Chicago, the duo maintained a "cordial" distance. They did the ceremonies. They smiled for the Hall of Fame photos. Then came 2020.
When The Last Dance hit Netflix during the pandemic, it was a global phenomenon. For Michael Jordan, it was a victory lap. For Scottie Pippen, it was an insult. Pippen felt the documentary "glorified" Michael while treating the rest of the team like "props."
He wasn't just mad about the screen time. He was livid about the narrative. The doc revisited the 1994 playoff game where Scottie refused to check in for the final 1.8 seconds because Phil Jackson drew the play up for Toni Kukoc. It also dug into Scottie’s decision to delay foot surgery until the start of the 1997-98 season—a move Michael called "selfish" on camera.
Seeing those old wounds picked at in front of millions of people changed everything. Scottie didn't just get annoyed; he went on a scorched-earth tour. He started calling Michael "condescending" and even claimed Jordan was a "horrible player" before he arrived in Chicago.
Why the Resentment Runs So Deep
You have to look at the numbers to understand why Scottie feels the way he does. During the Bulls' second three-peat, Scottie was arguably the second-best player in the entire league. He was a defensive terror, a point forward who initiated the offense, and the guy who took the toughest defensive assignment so Michael could save his energy for scoring.
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But the paycheck didn't match the production.
- 1991: Scottie signs a 7-year, $18 million deal.
- 1997: The market has exploded. Michael is making $30 million for a single season. Scottie is making $2.7 million.
- The Gap: Scottie was the 6th highest-paid player on his own team and 122nd in the league.
Imagine being the guy who holds the defense together while being paid less than the bench warmers. Michael never publicly fought for Scottie to get a raise. In fact, Jordan often poked fun at the "sidekick" label, a term Scottie grew to loathe.
By the time the 2020s rolled around, Scottie was done being the "support." He wanted his flowers. He wanted the world to know that Michael Jordan didn't win a single playoff series before Scottie arrived. And while that’s a bit of a spicy take, the stats back up the importance of the pairing: Jordan never won a ring without Pippen, and Pippen never won one without Jordan.
The Personal Complications
If the professional rivalry wasn't enough, the personal lives of the Jordan and Pippen families took a turn that even a Hollywood scriptwriter would find "too much."
The news that Michael’s son, Marcus Jordan, was dating Scottie’s ex-wife, Larsa Pippen, was the ultimate "you've got to be kidding me" moment for NBA fans. While Marcus and Larsa eventually split around March 2025, the damage was done. Michael publicly said "No" when asked if he approved of the relationship. Scottie, predictably, stayed silent but the awkwardness was palpable. It turned a basketball feud into a tabloid mess.
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Is Reconciliation Possible?
According to guys who were in the locker room, like John Salley and Sam Smith, the bridge isn't just burned—it’s at the bottom of the lake.
Sam Smith recently noted that Michael is more "hurt" than angry. Jordan views the bond they had as something sacred that Scottie betrayed by going public with his bitterness. On the other side, Scottie feels he’s finally telling the "true" version of a story that Michael has controlled for thirty years.
Phil Jackson has reportedly tried to play peacemaker, but at this point, they are two old men with very long memories and very large egos. They aren't kids anymore. They are legends protecting their legacies, and those legacies are now in direct competition.
Practical Lessons from the Jordan-Pippen Fallout
If you’re a fan or a student of the game, there are a few things we can actually learn from this mess:
- Workplace chemistry isn't friendship. You can be the most successful duo in history and still not want to grab a beer together. That's okay. Don't force a "family" narrative on your team if it's actually just a high-performing business unit.
- Credit matters. Resentment usually starts when someone feels undervalued. If Michael had been more vocal about Scottie’s "equal" status in the nineties, maybe we wouldn't be seeing this public meltdown today.
- Legacy is a zero-sum game for some. For Michael, being the GOAT means nobody else can be on the pedestal. For Scottie, being great means he shouldn't be in the shadow. Those two viewpoints can't occupy the same space.
What you should do next: If you want to see the "pure" version of their partnership, go back and watch the 1992 Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks. Ignore the books, ignore the Instagram drama, and ignore the documentaries. Just watch the way they moved on defense together. That's the only place where the relationship was ever perfect.
If you’re interested in how this affected the rest of the Bulls, look into Horace Grant’s recent interviews. He’s been just as vocal as Scottie about the "re-written history" of the dynasty.
Next Step for You: Compare the career playoff stats of both players during the years they were apart to see how much they truly relied on each other. You might be surprised at who struggled more without the other's "gravity" on the court.