Scottie Pippen

Pippen was born in Hamburg, Arkansas, to Ethel (1923–2016) and Preston Pippen (1920–1990).

He has 11 older siblings.

His mother was 6 ft tall and his father was 6 ft, and all of their children were tall, with Scottie Pippen being the tallest.

His parents could not afford to send their other children to college.

His father worked in a paper mill until suffering from a stroke that paralyzed his right side, prevented him from walking, and affected his speech.

Pippen attended Hamburg High School.

Playing point guard, he led his team to the state playoffs and earned all-conference honors as a senior, but was not offered any college scholarships.

Pippen began his college playing career at the University of Central Arkansas after being discovered by the school's head basketball coach, Don Dyer, as a walk-on.

He did not receive much media coverage because Central Arkansas played in the NAIA, while the media focused on the more prestigious NCAA.

Pippen stood only 6ft 1in tall when he graduated from high school, but experienced a growth spurt while at Central Arkansas and grew to 6ft 8in.

Scotty Maurice Pippen Sr. (born September 25, 1965), usually spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player.

He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.

As a senior, his per game averages of 23.6 points, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and near 60 percent field goal shooting earned him consensus NAIA All-American honors in 1986 and 1987, making him a dominant player in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference, drawing the attention of NBA scouts.

Having eyed Pippen before the 1987 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls manufactured a trade with the Seattle SuperSonics that sent Pippen, selected fifth overall, to the Bulls in exchange for the eighth pick, Olden Polynice, and future draft pick options.

Pippen became part of Chicago's young forward duo with 6 ft power forward Horace Grant (the 10th overall pick in 1987), although both came off the bench during their rookie seasons.

Pippen made his NBA debut on November 7, 1987, when the Chicago Bulls opened against the Philadelphia 76ers.

He finished with 10 points, two steals, four assists, and one rebound in 23 minutes of play, and the Bulls won 104–94.

With teammate Michael Jordan as a motivational and instructional mentor, Pippen refined his skills and slowly developed many new ones over his career.

Jordan and Pippen frequently played one-on-one outside of team practices, simply to hone each other's skills on offense and defense.

Pippen claimed the starting small forward position during the 1988 NBA Playoffs, helping the Jordan-led Bulls to reach the conference semifinals for the first time in over a decade.

Pippen emerged as one of the league's premier young forwards at the turn of the decade, recording then-career highs in points (16.5 points per game), rebounds (6.7 rebounds per game), and field goal shooting (48.9%), as well as finishing third in the league in steals with 211 during the 1989-1990 season.

Pippen continued to improve as the Bulls reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 1989 and 1990.

In each season, the Bulls were eliminated by the Detroit Pistons.

Considered one of the greatest small forwards of all time, Pippen played an important role in transforming the Bulls into a championship team and popularizing the NBA around the world during the 1990s.

Pippen was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight consecutive times and the All-NBA First Team three times.

These feats earned Pippen his debut NBA All-Star selection in 1990.

He played a main role on both the 1992 Chicago Bulls Championship team and the 1996 Chicago Bulls Championship team, which were selected as two of the Top 10 Teams in NBA History.

His biography on the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's website states that "the multidimensional Pippen ran the court like a point guard, attacked the boards like a power forward, and swished the nets like a shooting guard."

During his 17-year career, he played 12 seasons with the Bulls, one with the Houston Rockets and four with the Portland Trail Blazers, making the postseason 16 consecutive times.

In October 2021, Pippen was again honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Pippen is the only NBA player to have won an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, having done so in both 1992 and 1996.

He was a part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" which beat its opponents by an average of 44 points.

He was a seven-time NBA All-Star and was the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1994.

He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during the season, and is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls (the others being Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, and Michael Jordan).

He was also a key figure in the 1996 Olympic team, alongside former "Dream Team" members Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, and David Robinson, as well as newer faces such as Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and Grant Hill.

He wore the number 8 during both years.

The Bulls retired his number 33 on December 8, 2005.

Pippen is a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, once for his individual career and once as a member of the "Dream Team", having been simultaneously inducted for both on August 13, 2010.

The University of Central Arkansas retired his number 33 on January 21, 2010.

He was formerly married to television personality Larsa Pippen, and is the father of basketball player Scotty Pippen Jr..