Scottie Pippen reveals why fractured friendship with ‘difficult’ Michael Jordan is beyond repair

Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan may have been one of the best duos to grace the court as teammates but the former now believes their fractured friendship is beyond repair.  

Pippen and Jordan won six NBA Championships together during their stint as Chicago Bulls teammates.  

However, true fans know their relationship has been fractured since the release of ESPN’s 2020 docuseries, The Last Dance.

And Pippen has now revealed that their broken friendship was irreparable even long before the release of the docuseries. 

‘I just think Michael is a very difficult person to deal with,’ Pippen recently said on PBD podcast. ‘I played with him for years so I know that when it’s time for you to move in you direction, then go in your direction. 

‘Don’t sit there and try to procrastinate or stretch it that the relationship is not where it was or not what it used to be, and it’s never going to be the same. So why try and make something out of nothing? Or try to make something that was never there?’ 

Pippen recently suggested that their fractured relationship was beyond repair 

Pippen, a seven-time NBA All-Star, went on to admit that towards the end of their playing days they were never truly close to begin with. 

The 59-year-old confessed that the only time he’d spend in Jordan’s presence came on the court. He explained that while they may have attended social engagements together as Bulls teammates, they never spent any time one-on-one together. 

‘I guess the last three championships that we won, we trained together at his house, but other than that, we didn’t really put a lot of time in away from basketball,’ Pippen explained. ‘Most of our time was spent whether we were working out or on the practice floor.’

Pippen has previously opened up on their fractured relationship in his 2021 book, ‘Unguarded,’ but admitted that the blame for the breakdown wasn’t entirely on Jordan. 

‘I don’t usually allow our lack of closeness to bother me,’ Pippen wrote. ‘I have plenty of friends. Yet there are occasions, and watching the doc was definitely one when I think about the relationship I wish the two of us had, and it hurts. It hurts a lot. By no means am I an innocent party here. I missed some openings that might have made a difference, and I have to live with that.’ 

Pippen also alluded to choosing not to reach out to Jordan when the news of his father’s 1993 murder emerged. He wrote: ‘I feel horrible every time I think about it. Michael’s father, James Jordan, had been murdered.

‘The two were inseparable. When I heard the news, I should have reached out to Michael right away. Having lost my own dad three years before, I might have been able to offer Michael some comfort. To this day, he and I haven’t spoken about his father’s death.’

Their relationship appeared to take a further hit when Pippen’s ex-wife Larsa began dating Jordan’s son Marcus, who was 17 years younger. They recently split and apparently are no longer on speaking terms.