July 9, 2025
“Scottie was so underrated – and so underpaid. He should be holding his head up higher than Michael Jordan in this documentary,” Rodman said.
Referencing ESPN’s docuseries The Last Dance—which highlighted the Chicago Bulls’ sixth and final championship season, including Michael Jordan’s temporary retirement to play baseball—Dennis Rodman acknowledged Scottie Pippen as a vital piece of the team’s success.
It was well-documented that Pippen felt slighted when the 10-part series aired during the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. When it debuted, the first two episodes averaged 6.1 million viewers, a record at the time.
The docuseries made people look at the Bulls in a different way due to Jordan’s telling of the dynasty. Although Pippen was the team’s second-best player, the way Jordan portrayed him and his role on the team left a bitter taste in most former teammates’ mouths—especially Pippen’s.
Nearly 18 months after the miniseries, Pippen responded by releasing a memoir, Unguarded.
Rodman, in a 2020 ESPN interview, wished Pippen didn’t care as much about the narrative presented by Jordan. Rodman, whose rebounding and tenacious defense contributed to the Bulls’ final three championships, knew Pippen’s importance as a teammate and facing him for years as a member of the Detroit Pistons.
“I wish he didn’t give a s**t like me about what people say,” he told ESPN. “Scottie was so underrated—and so underpaid. He should be holding his head up higher than Michael Jordan in this documentary. I think a lot of people are now realizing what he went through. The kid was a hero, in a lot of ways, during those great Bulls runs.”
Pippen, like Jordan, left the Bulls after the 1998 season. He ended up playing for the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trailblazers before returning to the Bulls for his final season in 2003-04.
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