Scottie Pippen became one of the best players in the NBA in the 1990’s alongside Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. He won six NBA championships and made seven All Star teams over a nine year stretch in what became one of the most dominant decade-long runs the league has ever seen.
But, because of Pippen’s success and strong-willed personality, he also created his fair share of enemies. Among them is his former Houston Rockets teammate, Charles Barkley.
The two Hall of Famers played together for just one season in 1999 and were bounced by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Pippen requested out and was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers that summer.
It’s been well documented that two players had a public dispute back in the day. Barkley once said that Pippen owed him an apology for leaving the Rockets after just one season. Pippen fired back, calling Barkley “selfish”, saying that he “wouldn’t give Charles Barkley an apology at gunpoint” and “if anything, he owes me an apology for coming to play with his sorry fat butt.”
Barkley later joked about Pippen’s comment: “As you know, I always carry a gun with me, so there’s a chance. If I get arrested for murder, then you know he didn’t apologize.”
Over two decades later, Pippen addressed the beef again in a recent interview with Tyler Tynes of GQ. The Hall of Famer shared that he never apologized to Barkley before lighting into him again.
“I wish he woulda went through with it. I never apologized to him, but I’ll tell you what: He only got arrested for throwing some little white guys out of a window. I ain’t never seen him fight a Black man unless there were referees around. He plays his role like he’s tough. I don’t know nobody he done whooped. Go back and check his record. Did I apologize to him? I told him to get me the hell out of there. That’s what I recall.”
Clearly 22 years hasn’t healed the wound between the former teammates.
Pippen opened up about a variety of topics in his interview with GQ, including Ben Simmons’ struggles with the 76ers, Kevin Durant, and his past relationships with Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan.
Here’s the full Q&A with the former Bulls star.
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