By all accounts, Scottie Pippen will go down in the history of the NBA as one of the best players to play.  With numerous team and individual accolades, including recently being named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, the six-time champion, seven-time all-star and Hall of Famer has cemented himself in the history books of basketball.  

However, the Bulls’ great is apparently not quite happy with how he was portrayed alongside the greatest.

In Pippen’s newly-released memoir, Unguarded, he opened up about his relationship with Michael Jordan, sharing intimate details about his road to superstardom and his real thoughts on the 2020-hit docu-series, "The Last Dance”.

Behind the scenes, the legendary duo that was Jordan and Pippen, presented at the time as brotherly and fruitful, was apparently anything but, according to Pippen.  In an excerpt of the memoir shared by GQ, he explained that he felt that the documentary was focused solely on Jordan while portraying Pippen and other important contributors to the Bulls’ dynasty, such as Dennis Rodman, as second fiddle to the great one. He details how he cringed at being labeled Jordan’s sidekick, and discusses how he wishes he received more respect from both the Bulls’ management and the media.

“I was nothing more than a prop. His ‘best teammate of all time’, he called me. He couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried,” he fumed in an excerpt of the book published in GQ.  “Each episode was the same: Michael on a pedestal, his teammates secondary, smaller, the message no different from when he referred to us back then as his ‘supporting cast’.”

Pippen was a key voice throughout the 10-part documentary series, his interviews were featured prominently in every episode for the most part. Despite his contribution, he claims that he received no compensation for how much he contributed to the attention that Jordan received following the documentary’s release. 

“How dare Michael treat us that way after everything we did for him and his precious brand,” Pippen wrote, adding, “to make things worse, Michael received $10 million for his role in the doc, while my teammates and I didn’t earn a dime, another reminder of the pecking order from the old days. For an entire season, we allowed cameras into the sanctity of our locker rooms, our practices, our hotels, our huddles…our lives.”

In all, Pippen felt that “The Last Dance”, which aired from April to May 2020, was made to keep his legacy up in the modern day, a tool to prove to fans that he is the undisputed greatest player of all time, over 20 years after his full retirement.  

“Michael was determined to prove to the current generation of fans that he was larger than life during his day – and still larger than LeBron James, the player many consider his equal, if not superior”, he wrote.

Pippen shared that Jordan reached out to him, hearing that he was displeased with the documentary.  The two have long known each other, even after their careers, which is what makes Pippen’s book and the revelation behind it rather surprising.

In 2010, Scottie Pippen was formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.  During his acceptance speech, he had quite the amount of praise for Jordan.

“MJ, you have touched so many people’s lives, but none like mine,” said Pippen.  “Thank you for being the best teammate. I will always cherish that experience and I will cherish our relationship forever.”

Pippen also asked Jordan to be his presenter at the 2010 Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony.  Perhaps he put away his emotions to celebrate his achievement, but no doubt, Pippen has certainly changed his mind since then, referring to Jordan as “selfish” and claiming that they were never as close as the documentary portrayed them to be.

MJ wasn’t the only target in Unguarded either.  Coach Phil Jackson and former Bull Bill Paxson were also put on blast.  

Perhaps seeing the documentary brought back some hard feelings, especially with how Jordan was at the forefront and portrayed.  Nevertheless, Pippen aired out all of those feelings and controversies in his memoir, giving us a new angle to “The Last Dance”, one of the most successful sports documentaries in history.  

Unguarded officially released today across all major book retailers.