Former Chicago Bulls player Scottie Pippen is not holding anything back and his recent comments are bound to make headlines. The 55-year-old attracted a lot of heat last time out for criticizing Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons. Now the six-time NBA champion is picking up from where KD left off.
One of the criticisms that Pippen got was that last shot issue in the 1994 playoffs. Jackson set up a final play with Toni Kukoc as the designated shooter. Pippen took himself out of the game and now he opens up on why he did it.
According to Pippen, he felt disrespected by the decision of Jackson to give that final shot to Kukoc. For him, he was denied of taking the final shot in what he now calls a racist move.
“I thought it was a pretty low blow. I felt like it was an opportunity to give [Kukoc] a rise. It was a racial move to give him a rise. After all I’ve been through with this organization, now you're gonna tell me to take the ball out and throw it to Toni Kukoc? You’re insulting me. That’s how I felt," the seven-time All-Star stated.
I’m just answering the questions y’all asking me. You wanted the headlines, you got them - dig deeper to find out why I actually said what I said instead of framing your questions to get clicks. It’s all love! _
— Scottie Pippen (@ScottiePippen) June 28, 2021
Pippen was asked on the Dan Patrick Show about the racial move comment and stood by it. In fact, instead of implying it, the 5th overall pick of the 1987 NBA Draft doubled down on it.
To back up his claim, Pippen even used the time when Jackson coached Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers. He suggested that the 75-year-old took advantage of black people. Pippen claims that Jackson tried to expose Kobe through the book her wrote, “The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul” when he left in 2004.
Aside from Jackson, Pippen also took a swipe at Michael Jordan. During the 1998 NBA Finals, Pippen felt that Jordan only passed the ball to Steve Kerr because cameras were filming him in the huddle. He added that Jordan even rehearsed the whole thing.
In the end, Pippen said on Twitter that he was just answering all questions asked of him. He knows it will make headlines and challenged reporters to dig deeper instead of worrying about clicks.
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