Fans, rivals, and players who shared the court with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen all want this beef to end. While MJ has largely maintained his silence, Pipe’s recent commercial took a shot at His Airness, which might not end the feud soon. Amid this, former teammate Bill Wennington gives a reality check that is more important than the beef.
“But back to Scottie and Michael, I think time will tell. I think we are getting older.” The Bulls legend was part of their second three-peat team as he spoke to SiriusXM NBA Radio’s David Shepard. “And I’ve had discussions a little bit with Scottie, ‘You got to get rid of your demons. You got to let them out.’ So they’re two very strong-minded people. I would seriously have them in a room and have them just to look at each other for a minute and realize that we’re not in our early 30s anymore. If you’re married or have a brother or sister, you sometimes say things when you’re angry that you know you don’t mean, but they hurt.
“And we got to get over that because we’re not going to be here forever. We’re getting older, and we’ve already lost a couple of people from that team, coaches and players-wise. And you know, eventually it’s going to be too late. I guarantee you it’s the people that we played with and people that make life special, and you don’t want to say ‘I should have said something’ because it’s too late and you can’t.”
Wennington was also on the Bulls’ “Last Dance” team, so he witnessed firsthand the on-court chemistry between Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The 3x NBA champion truly believes that their beef is nothing really serious and they should try to quash it. The message is also important since it runs deeper than basketball. Because Brian Williams, aka Bison Dele, Tex Winter, an assistant coach under Phil Jackson, mastermind of the triangle offense, and the general manager, Jerry Krause, some of the famous names of the 90s Bulls have unfortunately passed away. The 2024 apparent reunion was a sign that things must change.
The Chicago Bulls were inaugurating their Ring of Fire with the ’90s championship squad, including Michael Jordan, Pippen, and others. The Last Dance had villainized the late GM Jerry Krause so much that boos rained down on him that night and made his widow cry. It overshadowed the fact that MJ and Pip were absent on this huge night.
That’s why the 3x NBA champion and Canadian Basketball Hall of Famer, Wennington, wants this beef to end quickly. But Pippen continues to stir the water, and this time it was a commercial, which became an outlet for the former Bulls star.
Pippen takes another apparent shot at Michael Jordan
Since The Last Dance has aired, Pip has spoken at length about what made Jordan unpleasant to work with as a player and as an individual. In one of the chapters of his 2021 memoir, Unguarded, Pippen stated that the Netflix series “glorified Michael Jordan while not giving nearly enough praise to me and my proud teammates.” And now in 2026, there is another dig.
For the drink Mr. Pibb’s commercial, it features Pippen in a The Last Dance-esque setting. As the drink is trying to make a comeback, Pip seemingly takes a shot at MJ. He said, “When something has been second best for so long, we just blindly accept that it’s gospel.” Then the voiceover adds that this misconception can be a byproduct of marketing and social media, only for Pippen to interrupt and offer up “multi-part documentaries” as another reason.
It ends with Pippen making a bold declaration: “Yeah, I said it. Pipp is the GOAT.” Even if the spot seems to have been made in good humor, Pippen and Michael Jordan are not on talking terms. So this will be seen as a jab rather than a friendly banter.
