'I saw it over and over': Scottie Pippen claims scorekeepers gave Michael Jordan stats he didn't actually earn

Hall of Fame basketball player Scottie Pippen said in his memoir that scorekeepers incorrectly attributed statistics to Michael Jordan, often taking away from his own statistical totals.

The 58-year-old won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls alongside Jordan in the 1990s and was a threat on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

In his memoir, titled "Unguarded," Pippen alluded to the idea that Jordan manipulated scorekeepers into wanting to doctor statistics in his favor.

"Michael was better at getting people to do whatever he wanted," Pippin reportedly wrote in an excerpt. "I saw it over and over, from the first training camp in 1987 to the last victory rally in 1998. Here's how it worked: Say I deflected the ball and tapped it over to him. I should get credit with the steal, right? Nope. More often than not, the steal went into his column on the stat sheet, and I could do nothing about it," Pippen claimed, according to Bounding into Sports.

'He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1. He's shooting bad shots.'

Pippen recalled a time an official scorekeeper came into the locker room after a game and informed Jordan that he needn't worry and that they would "take care of" him.

"One night, a scorekeeper came into the locker room after the game to hand the stat sheets to Phil Jackson and the coaching staff. The sheet breaks down the points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, turnovers, and so on for everyone who played the game. I couldn't believe the look the guy gave Michael: 'See, MJ, we take care of you.' No wonder in the nine full seasons we played together, he averaged more steals than me in every year except two."

Jordan led the NBA in steals per game twice, in 1987-1988 and then again in the 1992-1993 season.

Pippen led the league once in 1994-1995.

Tension has grown between the former teammates over the years, with comments from Pippen becoming increasingly sour:

"He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1. He's shooting bad shots," Pippen said in 2023 about the start of Jordan's career. "All of a sudden, we become a team and we start winning. Everybody forgot who he was. He was a player that, really, winning wasn't at the top of his category. It was scoring."

It was also no secret that Jordan's son, 33-year-old Marcus, dated Pippen's 49-year-old ex-wife Larsa for several years. The pair allegedly broke up in early 2024.

"What's wrong with this guy? I guess he has a book to sell," commentator Eric Butler told Blaze News. "What's weirder is that Pippen's ex-wife was dating Jordan's son. The whole relationship between the two is strange, right down to Pippen claiming Michael wasn't as good as everyone thinks, which is obviously not true," Butler added.

Pippen was a seven-time NBA All-Star and had his number 33 retired by the Chicago Bulls in 2005.

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