(Audacy) Hall of Fame forward Scottie Pippen is in the midst of releasing his new book "Unguarded," which is coming out next week. In what seems like an effort to promote his upcoming book, Pippen shared an excerpt from his book with GQ detailing how the legendary Michael Jordan was "condescending" after he watched "The Last Dance" documentary.
In his book, Pippen detailed how the documentary was focused entirely on Jordan, to the dismay of Pippen and his teammates -- who Pippen believes didn't get enough praise or credit in the documentary.
"The final two episodes aired on May 17," Pippen said in an excerpt from his book. "Similar to the previous eight, they glorified Michael Jordan while not giving nearly enough praise to me and my proud teammates. Michael deserved a large portion of the blame. The producers had granted him editorial control of the final product. The doc couldn’t have been released otherwise. He was the leading man and the director."
"The Last Dance" did touch on Pippen's upbringing and journey to the NBA, but he believes the focus immediately switched back to Jordan and his will to win.
"Even in the second episode, which focused for a while on my difficult upbringing and my unlikely path to the NBA, the narrative returned to MJ and his determination to win," Pippen said. "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."
Jordan received a $10-million payday for his appearance, according to Pippen, while everyone else who appeared in the documentary that played with Jordan didn’t. Pippen added he has talked to a lot of former Bulls teammates who felt disrespected in the documentary too.
"Over the next few weeks, I spoke to a number of my former teammates who each felt as disrespected as I did," Pippen said. "How dare Michael treat us that way after everything we did for him and his precious brand. Michael Jordan would never have been Michael Jordan without me, Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, Bill Cartwright, Ron Harper, B. J. Armstrong, Luc Longley, Will Perdue and Bill Wennington."
One former Bulls teammate Pippen whom spoke to was John Paxson, who also was the team's lead basketball executive until stepping aside in April 2020. Paxson finally healed some old wounds over how Pippen was treated when Pippen was put on the Bulls’ payroll and worked for the organization.
"In 2010, when I was finally put on the Bulls’ payroll, I was nothing more than a mascot, trotted out a few times every year for appearances," Pippen said. "I signed autographs and met with season-ticket holders, hired for mainly one purpose, to serve as a link to the glory days."
There's a lot more to unpack in the long excerpt released by Pippen, and this surely won't be the last interesting tidbit to discuss from the book. His memoir will be released on Nov. 9.
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