When asked to name basketball’s GOAT, Scottie Pippen skipped both LeBron James and his former teammate Michael Jordan.
During his PBD Podcast visit, Pippen said a GOAT “doesn’t exist in team sports.” When host Patrick Bet-David switched it up and asked who he’d pick first in an all-time NBA draft as an owner, Pippen had different thoughts.
“In today’s era of players, I’ll take [Victor] Wembanyama, the young player with San Antonio,” he said around 55:30. For past players, Pippen didn’t skip a beat.
“I’m going to pick the team that won six titles,” he said about his legendary Bulls run. When asked “Who’s your number one draft pick player?” he answered, “I’m gonna pick Michael [Jordan],” naming himself as second pick. He’d take Dennis Rodman or Horace Grant third, believing that squad in their prime could beat anyone. “We did it for three years,” he noted. “Me and Michael did it for six.”
When asked about ranking himself above LeBron, Pippen explained why he doesn’t think the Lakers star deserves GOAT status.
“My Success as a team is more successful than LeBron, I got six rings,” he said. “Do you want individual accolades or do you want championships? ‘Cause I didn’t chase mine. … But again, team sports to me, there’s no GOAT. There’s great teams, but as an individual, you got to go to individual sports.”
Around 1:27:40, Pippen made it clear neither LeBron nor MJ should be called the GOAT.
“You can’t ask me who’s the GOAT between LeBron and Michael,” Pippen explained. “Neither one of them are GOATS. They both won differently. You can’t put them at the top of the pinnacle. Magic Johnson to me is a bigger GOAT than anybody because of how he led, how he brought a whole team. How when the greatest scorer in the game, Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] was not there and him as a rookie steps in and plays a position that no one even knew he could play, that’s transcending what you can do as a player.”
Full interview’s here
