When asked about his pick for the greatest NBA player of all time, Scottie Pippen made it clear LeBron James would not receive the honor. And neither would his ex-teammate, Michael Jordan.
In an appearance on the PBD Podcast, Pippen suggested the GOAT "doesn't exist in team sports." Podcast host Patrick Bet-David, instead, decided to rephrase the question and asked him, as an NBA owner, who his number one NBA Draft pick would be when putting together a team.
"In today's era of players, I'll take [Victor] Wembanyama, the young player with San Antonio," he shared at the 55:30 mark of the interview, as seen above. When it came to picking a player from past generations, Pippen didn't hesitate.
"I'm going to pick the team that won six titles," he continued, referring to his legendary run with the Chicago Bulls. "Who's your number one draft pick player?" Bet-David asked him. "I'm gonna pick Michael [Jordan]," he replied, adding that he'd choose himself as his second pick. Pippen added that either Dennis Rodman or Horace Grant would be picked third, as he believes a team with that lineup, in their prime years, could beat any team. "We did it for three years," he added. "Me and Michael did it for six."
Pippen was asked if he would put himself ahead of LeBron James, and subsequently shared why he doesn't believe the Lakers star deserves to be crowned the GOAT.
“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."
Later in the chat, at around the 1:27:40 mark of the interview, Pippen clarified that he doesn't think LeBron or MJ should be named the GOAT.
“You can’t ask me who’s the GOAT between LeBron and Michael,” Pippen said. “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 he 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.”
Watch the full interview up top.