Scottie Pippen Calls Michael Jordan’s Retirement Selfish

NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is not mincing any words against fellow Hall of famer Michael Jordan in his new book, Unguarded, going as far as saying that he isn’t close with the basketball legend, according to Bleacher Report.

Both Pippen and Jordan were part of the Chicago Bulls during the prime of their careers. The two went on to win six NBA titles between 1991 and 1998. However, the 56-year-old insists he was never close with his Bulls peer.

“How dare Michael treat us that way after everything we did for him and his precious brand,” the former Bulls small forward wrote in the opening pages of the memoir, as revealed by Sopan Deb of The New York Times.

Pippen was also highly critical of Jordan’s comments directed towards him in The Last Dance, the 10-part documentary series that chronicled Jordan’s time with the Bulls during the nineties.

The former Bulls captain criticized Pippen several times during the documentary. He even referred to him as “selfish” for allegedly stalling the foot surgery that forced him to sit out the 1997-98 season.

Pippen responded to Jordan’s criticism by calling him out for his sudden retirement. Jordan retired from professional basketball ahead of the 1993-94 season but returned after a two-year hiatus.

“You want to know what selfish is? Selfish is retiring right before the start of training camp when it is too late for the organization to sign free agents,” Pippen wrote of Jordan’s decision to retire during the mid nineties.

Regarding whether Jordan’s style of captaincy led Bulls to their record number of titles, Pippen said they “won in spite of his getting on guys.” Jordan implied his aggressive captaincy won Bulls multiple titles.

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