Which shoes did Scottie Pippen primarily wear during his Chicago Bulls days?
Scottie Pippen is one of the best two-way players in the history of the NBA. Thanks to his incredible skills, the Chicago Bulls managed to win six championships in the 90s, becoming one of the most storied franchises of all time.
Pippen was a fantastic player, yet he is best known as Michael Jordan's sidekick. Due to this, a lot of casual players don't know what shoes Pippen wore during his impressive basketball career.
This article will reveal everything we know about Scottie Pippen's shoes. We will take a deeper look at his footwear during his time with the Chicago Bulls and reveal if he had his signature shoes.
Scottie Pippen wore shoes from two different brands
The 6-foot-8 forward was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft. Pippen was drafted by the Bulls, who already had a fantastic player in Michael Jordan.
In his rookie season, Scottie Pippen wore Avia 855 shoes. Back then, Avia was a relatively young footwear company as it was founded in 1979. The company had a decent roster of NBA players, including Clyde Drexler, AC Green, and John Stockton.
Unfortunately, Avia couldn't retain the Chicago Bulls forward. Pippen began wearing Nike shoes in 1990 with Nike Air Flights. He permanently switched to the leading footwear brand in 1991.
Avia filed a lawsuit against Nike in 1991, accusing the competitor company of pirating its shock-absorption technology. Nike, on the other hand, accused Avia of infringing on its patents. The lawsuit was settled in December 1992, but its details are unknown.
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By the time the lawsuit was settled, Pippen was one of the biggest Nike endorsers. The Bulls forward wore Nike Air Flight Lite Low in a white and red colorway, matching his team's colors.
The versatile forward eventually used a black and white colorway in the 1992 playoffs and a special colorway with the blue color for the 1992 Olympics.
For the next two seasons, the six-time NBA champion wore Nike Air Maestro shoes for both the regular season and the playoffs, eventually switching to Air Maestro 2.
The forward wore many other models from Nike, including Air Swift (1994), Air Way Up (1995), and Air More Uptempo (1996).
Scottie Pippen's signature shoes
Whether he played with or without Michael Jordan, Pippen was a fantastic player on both ends of the floor. Nike recognized his greatness and created his signature shoes in the 1996-97 season.
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The Nike Air Pippen 1 model was released in 1997 and it looked amazing.
The basketball superstar received his second signature shoe in 1998. It was built on top of his first model and came in three different colorways. This was the last shoe Pippen wore as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
Nike eventually released the Air Pippen 3 shoe in 1999, but he wore it while playing for the Houston Rockets. He eventually received two more signature shoes, both as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.