The Chicago Bulls marked a major occasion last week, as Thursday, January 11, marked the NBA organization’s inaugural Ring of Honor ceremony. A number of notable franchise alums were celebrated during the event, including coach Phil Jackson as well as the entire ‘95-’96 championship roster. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were also amongst the honorees, though both were notably absent. This turn of events happened amid the pair’s (one-sided) feud with one another. Now, thoughts from two of the team’s key execs have surfaced amid the news that both of the hall of farmers skipped out on the festivities.
After the event was announced in December 2023, there was a lot of speculation regarding how it might go down if the feuding former teammates were to have both shown up. It would seem that those fireworks – which even Charles Barkley was anticipating – weren’t meant to go off. Chicago Bulls team owner Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t discuss the drama between his two former star players while speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times after the ceremony. What the sports executive share his two cents on were the actual absences of the iconic athletes:
I actually don’t know how much effort went into it. Obviously, it would be better if everybody were here, but we knew going in that not everybody could be here. I believe Michael recorded something.
Indeed “His Airness” did send a pre-recorded message to mark the occasion. That video was shared to Instagram and, in it, the six-time NBA champion remarked that wished he could’ve been present. He also expressed his gratitude to Bulls management as well as the fans for the support they’ve shown him over the years. You can take a look at the clip in the post below:
Many seem to be under the impression that it’s the feud that kept Michael Jordan from attending and possibly running into his old on-court partner. The two have seemingly been on the outs since, when Pippen called out The Last Dance. Pippen accused his former teammate of using the ESPN docuseries to prop up himself and neglecting to give his teammates (some of which could’ve used more time in the series) their due credit. Since then, Pippen has thrown shade at MJ in other instances, at one point even referring to him as a “horrible” player. Despite all of that drama, Bulls President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf shared other possible reasons while discussing the night:
I would be excited for everyone to come, but we announced it six weeks ago. People have schedule issues, and so this is just our way of saying thank you to the players and the staff, so that’s what we’re looking forward to.
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Another notable figure that didn’t show up to the event was none other than Dennis Rodman, whose travel plans were canceled due to inclement weather, per ESPN. But, though there were absences, there were a number of stars who did show up, like Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr and Toni Kukoč. For all the talk about a potential flair-up if Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen had shown up, this actually would’ve made a nice night for a reconciliation. It’s hard to say whether such a thing would’ve happened or will happen at some point. We’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, you can get a taste of the Chicago Bulls’ dominance in the ‘90s by streaming The Last Dance using a Netflix subscription.
