(670 The Score) Bulls legend Scottie Pippen still isn’t over coach Phil Jackson drawing up the game-winning play and shot for teammate Toni Kukoc in the final seconds of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1994.
And now Pippen has turned up his criticism, claiming Jackson was racist for designing the play for Kukoc instead of Pippen, who was the star of the team as Michael Jordan had retired from the NBA to embark on a baseball journey.
In a recent interview with GQ, Pippen called it a “racial move” for Jackson to give Kukuc that last shot, which he drilled to pull the Bulls within 2-1 in the series. Upset at Jackson’s decision at the time, Pippen refused to take the floor for that final play, a moment that’s viewed as one of the low points of his career.
In an interview on the Dan Patrick Show on Monday, Pippen doubled down on his comments to GQ and answered in the affirmative when asked if Jackson was and is a racist.
“There’s not much to be said if you go back and look at when Scottie Pippen entered the Bulls and when Toni Kukoc entered the Bulls and who deserved the last shot of the game,” said Pippen, who has been making a series of media rounds lately to promote his new bourbon, Digits.
“If you knew Scottie Pippen had been with the Bulls from ’87, battled through the Pistons and every other team that we had to get to those three championships, wouldn’t you give Scottie Pippen one opportunity to get a last-second shot without Michael Jordan? Like one year without Michael Jordan. Can I get one shot? Like, I’m doing all the dirty work.”
Patrick pressed Pippen on the topic.
“Why would Toni, who’s a rookie, get the last-second shot and you put me out of bounds (to make the pass in)?” Pippen said. “That’s what I mean racial. Like that was Scottie Pippen’s team. Scottie Pippen was on pace to be an MVP that year, right? OK, well, why would you put him in a position not to be successful? Why wouldn’t you put him in to succeed. Michael Jordan is not there. So who’s next in line for you?
Patrick then followed up by commenting, “By saying a racial move, you’re calling Phil a racist.”
“I don’t got a problem with that,” Pippen said.
“Do you think Phil was or is?” Patrick asked.
“Oh yeah,” Pippen said.
Pippen then detailed another reason he believed Jackson was a racist, pointing out that Jackson left the Lakers in 2004 and then wrote a book that heavily criticized star Kobe Bryant. Jackson returned to coach the Lakers for the 2005-’06 season, later helping guide them to championships in 2009 and 2010 with Bryant leading the way.
“He exposed Kobe in a way that he shouldn’t have,” Pippen said.
Patrick then pushed back a bit at Pippen’s claim that Jackson was a racist for those reasons.
“It feels like he’s disloyal,” Patrick said of Jackson. “I don’t know if that makes him a racist.”
“Well, that’s your way of putting it out,” Pippen said. “And I have my way. I was in the locker room with him. I was in practices with him. You’re looking at him from afar.”