Scottie Pippen’s recent media tour has resulted in him making several headlines with the outrageous comments that have came out of his mouth. Nothing has garnered more attention than the former Chicago Bulls legend referring to Phil Jackson as a racist.
After calling one of Jackson’s past coaching decisions a “racial move” in an interview with GQ, Pippen said he didn’t have “a problem with” calling Jackson a racist while speaking to Dan Patrick.
One of Pippen’s fellow NBA legends vehemently disagreed with his claim: Reggie Miller.
Tied 102-102 in Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals, Pippen refused to enter the game against the New York Knicks with 1.8 seconds left because the final play wasn’t made for him, rather Toni Kukoc.
“I felt like it was an opportunity to give (Kukoc) a rise,” Pippen said to GQ, per Sports Illustrated. “It was a racial move to give him a rise. After all I’ve been through with this organization, now you’re gonna tell me to take the ball out and throw it to Toni Kukoc? You’re insulting me.”
He then doubled down on the claim that it was a “racial move.”
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Patrick then said: “By saying ‘a racial move,’ then you’re calling Phil a racist,” and Pippen replied, “I don’t got a problem with that.”
Reggie Miller responded to the comments saying that Jackson’s decision to give Kukoc the final shot was racially motivated.
“No, no,” Miller said on the June 28 episode of the Dan Patrick Show. “See, I don’t agree with that. No, no, no, no. There’s plenty of times I’ve been a decoy on the Pacers team. There’s just times when that has to be the case because everyone assumes and knows the ball’s going to go to you. And sometimes, you have to be a decoy. The whole racial point, no, absolutely not. That, I don’t roll with.”
