Scottie Pippen on Balancing Relationship With Michael Jordan: ‘It’s Not Like We Sleep in the Same Bed Together. It’s Not Like We Live Together’

Scottie Pippen has been dominating the headlines recently with the release of his book, Unguarded. A name that seems to ring alongside Pippen’s every time is Michael Jordan. Their relationship has been the focus of a lot of attention recently and Pippen’s comments about MJ have caused speculation about a beef between the former teammates.

Pippen has in recent days been outspoken about the problems he had with Michael’s media image. The release of The Last Dance was the final nail in the coffin for Pippen and Jordan’s professional relationship. However, does this mean that Pippen and Jordan are no longer friends? Are they incapable of restoring their personal relationship despite not agreeing with each other? Here is what Scottie Pippen had to say about that.

Pippen on balancing the dynamic with his teammates like Michael Jordan

After spending years together in what was probably one of the best (if not the best) teams to ever be assembled in the NBA’s history, Pippen and Jordan seem to have a thorn in their relationship.

During an interview with GQSports, Pippen was asked how he balanced the dynamic of his relationships while telling the story. Especially since in his book he accuses Jordan of bending the narrative in his favor.

From left, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Ron Harper and Toni Kukoc were big parts of Bulls teams that won three straight NBA titles from 1996 to 1998. Jordan and Pippen were members of the first “three-peat” team, which won titles from 1991 to 1993. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

To this, Pippen responded, “Well, I mean, there’s not like, we sleep in the same bed together. It’s not like we live together. We’ve never had to do that. We’ve only had to be teammates. So, it’s very easy to balance. We all go our separate ways. We’re balanced.”

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Did this mean Pippen always had problems with Jordan?

So this naturally raised a question. Did this difference of opinion exist even at the time of them being teammates? How did Pippen perceive his relationship with his teammates off the court? To this, he clarified, “There’s no I love you now, and this, we gonna still go our separate ways. I love you at work. We’re at work, I love you. I love working with you. That don’t mean we’re gonna be together when we leave the basketball court.”

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – JUNE 11: Michael Jordan #23 and Scottie Pippen #33 of the Chicago Bulls celebrate after winning game five of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz on June 11, 1997 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Andy Hayt/NBAE/Getty Images)

So Pippen essentially said that just because he loved working with Jordan does not mean he had to have a close relationship with him off the court. What do you make of his comments?

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