Despite having three future Hall of Famers, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon, the 1999 Rockets went a disappointing 29-21 in the regular season and were dispatched in the first round of the playoffs. Pippen got into a public feud with Barkley that offseason as part of an apparent strategy to force his way out of town, and Houston traded him to Portland after one lockout-shortened season.
Now, more than 20 years later, it doesn’t appear the two NBA legends have made nice. In a new interview with GQ, Pippen and interviewer Tyler R. Tynes had a Barkley-related exchange:
GQ: Interesting you mentioned Charles Barkley, because he once said that he would “get arrested for murder” if you didn’t apologize to him for calling him “fat” after your breakup with the Rockets.
Pippen: I wish he woulda went through with it. I never apologized to him, but I’ll tell you what: He only got arrested for throwing some little white guys out of a window. I ain’t never seen him fight a Black man unless there were referees around. He plays his role like he’s tough. I don’t know nobody he done whooped. Go back and check his record. Did I apologize to him? I told him to get me the hell out of there. That’s what I recall.
What made the situation more frustrating, from Barkley’s perspective, is he had taken a big paycut so the Rockets would have the financial room to sign Pippen away from the Chicago Bulls (where he had won six NBA titles). Understandably, after making that sacrifice, Chuck didn’t take too kindly to Pippen seeming to throw him under the bus.
For what it’s worth, teammates of that era strongly backed Barkley. After watching ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary, which chronicled Pippen’s previous season in Chicago, longtime Rockets player and broadcaster Matt Bullard praised Barkley’s qualities as a teammate while criticizing Pippen — at least for what he did during his time in Houston. To no surprise, subpar chemistry appeared to play a large role in that group of Rockets falling short of their perceived potential.
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