In spite of Scottie Pippen‘s seven-year, $18 million contract with the Chicago Bulls, former Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird did not feel bad for him. The three-time NBA champion was forthright in his assessment of Pippen’s deal, which made him one of the league’s lowest paid players at the time, in his 1999 book “Bird Watching,” which was published.
“He signed the contract. If he was so sure that he was going to be that good, why didn’t he put an escape clause in there? And suppose he got hurt. He wouldn’t be complaining about the contract then.”
The Bulls paid Pippen his highest pay of $3.4 million in 1992–1993 after signing him to a seven–year, $18–million deal.
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He had his reasons, even if his contract with the Bulls will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst in NBA history. The actor was compelled to make a quick decision because he needed to take care of his family at the time. The Chicago Tribune said that the forward’s domestic situation was a mess.
“It was the worst thing that ever happened to Scottie Pippen, that day in the playoffs almost two years ago when he got the call. He thinks of it often. His father, Preston, had died. A hard-working man who`d provided for a family of 12, of which Scottie was the youngest, he had suffered a stroke several years before and was confined to a wheelchair. But his presence and determination had still run the family. “Ten kids tended to my mom, Ethel, and dad, Preston, who worked in a local mill but suffered a stroke and had to retire on disability before Pippen entered high school. And there was brother Ronnie, crippled and in a wheelchair after an accident in gym cass. The vision of Preston deteriorating from a stroke most of Pippen’s life and of Ronnie in a wheelchair has always haunted Pippen–so much so that he was desperate to sign the five-year, $18 million contract extension in June 1991 that he now chafes under because of his long-standing fear of injury and loss of security.”
Scottie Pippen’s contract was brutally disclosed by Michael Jordan
They may still be at odds, but Michael Jordan was one of the players who publicly stated that Scottie Pippen deserved to be paid more than what he was, especially considering that he averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists over the course of his 12 seasons with the Windy City team.
The narrative said that Pippen was underpaid to Bulls writer Cheryl Raye-Stout prior to the 1995–1996 campaign : Jordan remarked : “I wish there was some way legally that I could give him some of the money that he totally deserves as a player,” Jordan remarked. “He’s totally underpaid. For years, I was underpaid, but I played it out, and I think he’s going to play it out too. At the end of three years, I hope they reward him with a just and fair contract.”
Even at one point, he had added that Pippen deserved the entire $30 million that MJ was earning. Jordan earned $30.1 million in the 1996–97 campaign and $33.1 million in the 1997–98 campaign, for comparison. Compare that to Pippen’s, who while having sparkling talent was earning nearly nothing in the league. In fact, it is regrettable to see how Pippen’s contract situation turned out. His statistics and services to the team undoubtedly demonstrate that he was worth far more.