Former Chicago Bulls superstars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen’s bad blood has led to former New York Knicks enforcer Charles Oakley having a say.
On Shannon Sharpe’s « Club Shay Shay » podcast, Oakley spoke about MJ and Pippen’s time as teammates. Oakley said:
« I think in the ESPN Documentary (‘The) Last Dance’ I talked about this, but Jerry Krause – I think I give him a lot of credit because he drafted me being biased – but I think he did a lot of work to put that team together but for Mike and Scottie.
« I think it’s something else besides ‘The Last Dance,’ because they didn’t give them a lot of headlines like they did Dennis Rodman or (Steve) Kerr, but I think Mike couldn’t have won without Scottie. He has said that many times, but I think Scottie, whatever you say, you gotta live with it. »
Oakley continued:
« You know, in sports, there’s a lot of guys who play together for a lot of years. They don’t play for the friendship. They play to win the championship and love of the game. So we seen this playing out a lot of way that Magic, Kareem, maybe Shaq and Kobe and a few other guys.
« Yeah, they didn’t get along, but they played together, they won championships together. »
Oakley was Jordan’s teammate for three years after being drafted by Chicago in 1985 but was eventually traded to the New York Knicks for center Bill Cartwright in 1988. Pippen came to the Bulls as a rookie in 1987.
Scottie Pippen-Michael Jordan relationship
