Scottie Pippen claims Michael Jordan was “a horrible player” early in his NBA career

For years, the debate about who is the greatest player of all time has been exhausting to say the least. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is constantly compared to Michael Jordan every single season, and the takes have been all over the place. Statistically, one could argue that James has an extremely good argument to be the GOAT, and that is something that former Chicago Bulls player Scottie Pippen stated on former teammate Stacey King’s Gimme the Hot Sauce podcast.

However, while anybody is more than welcome to have that opinion, things took a turn when Pippen claimed that MJ was a horrible player prior to Pippen joining the Chicago Bulls.

I seen Michael Jordan play before I came to play with the Bulls. You guys seen him play…he was a horrible player. He was horrible to play with. He was all one-on-one, he’s shooting bad shots, and all of a sudden we become a team and we start winning. Everybody forgot who he was.

Truly I am shocked in ways that I didn’t know were possible, because I can’t think of a single person in their right mind that would call Michael Jordan a horrible player. It is even more insane when you factor in the accolades that Jordan accumulated before Pippen even arrived in Chicago, including NBA All-Star and Rookie of the Year. It also has to be factored in that Jordan was a NCAA National Champion with the Tar Heels, and went on to have a highly-decorated college career. To put it bluntly, Pippen’s comments make no logical sense, and it all comes off as sour grapes despite him being just fine with who Jordan was as a player, and even called him the “greatest player to ever put on shoes and play in our game.”

It’s really bizarre for someone to have such a strong opinion about one of their former teammates, and for it to change so drastically in five years. While relationships do change over time for various reasons, it doesn’t really excuse saying something ridiculous that it makes any opinions that you have moving forward seem like a joke. While I don’t think there’s a worthy debate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan personally, I can at least respect that the debate exists and exists for a reason. It really seems like things took a turn between Jordan and Pippen after The Last Dance aired, and since then Pippen’s feelings about Jordan took a nose dive. Be that as it may, his comments were just unnecessary, bitter, and flat-out wrong.

Later last night, Gimme the Hot Sauce Podcast host Stacey King claimed that Pippen’s comments had been edited to fit a narrative. The really confusing thing is that I listened to the actual podcast recording not one word that Pippen said was any different than in the video floating around Twitter.

It sucks that a key member of the ‘90s Bulls dynasty has grown this sour about Jordan, but ultimately it doesn’t take any of MJ’s accomplishments away from him. What do you think of Pippen’s comments? Also, where do you stand in the debate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan when it comes to who is the GOAT? Let us know in the comments below.