Larsa Pippen Defends Ex Scottie Pippen After The Last Dance Highlights His Chicago Bulls Contract
Larsa Pippen is speaking out in support of her estranged husband Scottie Pippen after his career earnings with the Chicago Bulls were brought up in the ESPN Michael Jordan docuseries The Last Dance.
Shortly after the premiere of the first two episodes, which explore Scottie’s seven-year, $18 million deal with the Bulls, Larsa, 45, took to Twitter to clear the air after fans took pity on the NBA star on social media.
“Thx for your concern Scottie did ok #TheLastDance,” Larsa wrote alongside a screengrab of a Bleacher Report article on Pippen’s earnings, which totaled $109,102,430 during his NBA career.
The docuseries follows the deterioration of Scottie’s relationship with the Bulls, which turned sour after he signed the seven-year contract.
It was also revealed on the docuseries that Scottie’s earnings were far less than what Jordan was earning while the two played for the same team. According to The Last Dance, Jordan was getting $30 million per season. The comparison prompted fans to label Scottie as one of the most underrated and undervalued players in the NBA.
Thx for your concern Scottie did ok #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/SFbo04uOLP
— Larsa Pippen (@larsapippen) April 20, 2020
It wasn’t until Scottie left the Bulls in 1998 that he began to earn more money. With the Bulls, Scottie won six NBA titles.
That year, Scottie signed a five-year 67.2 million contract with the Houston Rockets, according to the Bleacher Report. He stayed on the team for one year before getting traded to the Portland Trailblazers until 2003. He then returned to the Bulls for 23 games before retiring.
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His total NBA career earnings were actually larger than Jordan, who earned $93.29 million at the time of his retirement, according to the Bleacher Report.
Scottie went on to become an NBA Hall of Famer and was named to the NBA all-star team seven times and was awarded the game’s MVP in 1994. He was also part of the U.S. “Dream Team” in the 1996 Olympics.
Larsa’s defense of Scottie came as a surprise to fans considering she filed for divorce from the NBA star in November 2018 and was rumored to have cheated on him.
Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen
Larsa shut down those claims in since-deleted tweets captured by TMZ on Monday, saying, “I was married to him for 20 years, I did everything for him and my family. People change and that’s what really happened.”
“Most people can’t even imagine being in a relationship for a week so I know it’s beyond imagination,” Larsa continued adding, “Cheating wasn’t the problem.”
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Larsa cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split.
It does not appear that the couple has a prenup in place as Larsa is also asking for spousal support and wants the court to determine how their property is divided up between them.
In October 2016, Scottie, 53, filed for divorce from the former Real Housewives of Miami star.
His filing came just days after two voice recordings surfaced of Larsa making calls to police alleging that her husband was being verbally aggressive toward her.
Kevin Winter/Getty Larsa and Scottie Pippen with their children
The police were called twice in one week in early October of 2016 to the pair’s Fort Lauderdale home for domestic disturbances.
Shortly after their alleged dispute was made public, Scottie’s lawyer told PEOPLE at the time, “Mr. Pippen is aware that some members of the press have obtained 911 recording recently made by Ms. Pippen. While these recordings speak for themselves, Ms. Pippen did not make any allegations of physical violence by Mr. Pippen.”
During their separation, Larsa was romantically linked to Future, but both the rapper and Larsa denied the alleged affair saying they are just good friends, TMZ reported.
Scottie and Larsa, who got married in 1997, have four children: daughter Sophia, and sons Scotty Jr., Justin and Preston.
