Draymond Green knows what it’s like to be an underappreciated sidekick on an NBA championship team, which is why it was easy for him to come to the defense of Scottie Pippen after watching the first 2 episodes of the ESPN documentary, “The Last Dance,” chronicling the Chicago Bulls’ 1997-98 title season.
While defending him, however, he was very critical of Michael Jordan.
Pippen was the 122nd-highest paid player in the NBA and the sixth-highest paid player on the Bulls roster when he decided to push back surgery and miss part of the ’97-98 season. That led to general manager Jerry Krause listening to trade offers for Pippen.
“Me as a teammate, if Scottie Pippen does that, I’m not going to be mad at Pip,” Green said in an interview with Uninterrupted’s “WRTS: The After Party.” “Because I understand what you’re doing, and at the end of the day, I’m rolling with you. Because when it all boils down to it, clearly that (Bulls) organization showed they’re going to take care of themselves. They’re not going to take care of (the players).”
Green was also upset at Jordan for being critical of Pippen given the money disparity between the two superstars.
“And so I was kind of a little disappointed when Mike, still to this day, is like ‘Scottie was wrong.’ Like, no. You roll with your dogs, because they ride with you,” Green argued. “(Jordan’s) making $36 million, and (Pippen’s) making $2 (million), yet you’re saying when you mention (Michael Jordan’s) name there’s no way you can not mention Scottie Pippen’s name? And he’s just supposed to sit there? That don’t make sense. It’s very easy to say, like, ‘no, you should be good’ (when) your house is huge, you got $36 million coming in, and this man got $2 (million). That’s crazy.”
