The Last Dance: 4 Predictions for episodes 3 & 4

The Last Dance, MJ doc (JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images)

2. Jordan and Pippen’s relationship is tested

Michael Jordan (who’s been labelled as one of the more self-centered teammates in league history by some) blatantly called Scottie Pippen selfish in week 1 of The Last Dance for deciding to have his aforementioned foot surgery closer to the season rather than spend his summer months undergoing an immobilized form of rehab.

Yet Pippen didn’t choose to do so strictly in lieu of enjoying the summer in the hot sun. He was also being tremendously underpaid (roughly $2.25 million) on the final year of a contract he had signed in 1991, and was the subject of countless trade rumors circulating in and out of Chicago’s front office at the time of his decision to delay the procedure. Keep in mind, Jordan was also making an upwards of $30 million at the time.

Simply put – Pippen was unhappy with his treatment by management, and instead of sacrificing his own well-being and physical health for the good of the team, he decided to make a decision that was intrinsically self-motivated: play cat and mouse, and bait the team into treating him with the respect and reverence he felt he deserved. If not, he was going to show them how desperately they needed him, and sooner or later, how badly they would perform without his services.

And that they did, probably much quicker than anyone could’ve foreseen. The film details an unfamiliar rocky start to the ’97-98 season that revealed the gaping cracks a Pippen-less Bulls lineup possessed within it. Jordan was tasked with putting the team on his back, and throughout the majority of the season’s inception without Pippen, they had to weather a storm that brought about a difficult concept unbeknownst to many of them: losing.

It’s not hard to imagine Pippen being directly responsible for this downward trend.

If Jordan’s stating today Scottie was “selfish” for his actions, imagine what those dialogues between the two looked like in the 90’s (especially considering some of the raw sound tidbits we heard showing Michael engaging in critical conversation with his other teammates).

What could possibly match the drama of the undeniable one-two punch atop those dynastic Bulls runs being at odds with each other? It’s the ultimate Kobe-Shaq marriage.

My prediction: we find out that the friendship Jordan and Pippen shared wasn’t always as sweet and supporting as it was cracked up to be.