Let’s hope this is Scottie Pippen’s first and last attempt at being a recruiter.
The legendary Chicago Bulls forward recently sparked outrage among fans with a social media post that abruptly suggested tech and finance tycoon Elon Musk could have cut it as a member of the iconic 1990s Chicago Bulls teams.
On Saturday, Nov. 30, Pippen poised a bizarre hypothetical question on his X account: “How many championships would we have won with @ElonMusk?” The post featured an AI-generated image of Musk sporting a No. 13 Bulls jersey while running down the court.
As expected, the tweet didn’t go over well with fans of the storied NBA team. X users used the post as the green flag to drag Pippen for everything from his failed marriage to his complex relationship with former teammate Michael Jordan.
“I see why your life has been in shambles for the last 20+ years,” said one follower, while another sarcastically stated that Pippen might be “the first NBA player with CTE.”
The shade toward Pippen’s tumultuous marriage with former wife Larsa Pippen also made it into the conversation. In November 2018, the couple ended their 21-year marriage. At the time of filing, Larsa stated the couple had “so many amazing memories together” and would “remain best of friends and love each other very much.” As nice as that sounded, the fallout from their divorce got sticky when Larsa was seen in the streets enjoying the single life with rapper Future before sparking up a relationship with Marcus Jordan, the son of her ex-husband’s longtime teammate.
“Future and Marcus Jordan got this man down reeeeeeeallllllll bad,” joked one X user. Another person said his ex-wife should have finished him off, “Larsa should have cheated on you more.” While another went right for the jugular by replying, “I’m glad Future f—ed your wife.”
The X users also opened up the old wound of Pippen always falling short of the Michael Jordan glory, whether by his own doing or just simply being in “Air Jordan’s” shadow.
“I’m happy MJ gave you horrible, life-long lasting insecurity and I hope you never get over it,” said one person.
Pippen’s bitterness around his and Jordan’s on-and-off the court relationship became a huge narrative following the success of the “Last Dance” documentary, which Pippen felt was only told from the angle of celebrating Jordan. The 59-year-old later told his side of the story in his tell-all memoir “Unguarded.”
In the book, Pippen detailed his true feelings about playing alongside Jordan for over 10 seasons. “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,” Pippen wrote.
Followers also called out Pippen’s post as possibly the result of some ulterior motives outside of basketball. Some suggested the weird post could be linked to Pippen’s recent interest in cryptocurrency, as he has been promoting his own currency all over social media.
Although Pippen laughed off and even claimed to “follow back” his favorite comments, he gave no clear explanation or reasoning behind the post.
“Y’all are funny. I’m following my favorite comments,” he wrote, though it’s unclear if he’s followed anyone back.
