Why is Scottie Pippen's net worth only $20 million?
Scottie Pippen's net worth is only $20 million. While saying 'only' may be selling Pippen short, as he is still very wealthy, his net worth pales in comparison to his career earnings, which exceed $100 million. Take a look at why Scottie Pippen's is lower than expected.
Why Scottie Pippen's net worth is only $20 million
While he made north of $100 million in career earnings alone, Scottie Pippen's net worth is not as high as one would expect. The six-time NBA champion fell into business with a bad financial advisor following his retirement. The move ended up costing Pippen millions of dollars.
While the financial advisor wound up being sentenced to three years in prison for bank fraud, it did not help Pippen, who was defrauded of over $20 million. One of the criminal charges that his former financial advisor was sentenced for included forging Pippen's signature to write a $1.4 million check to pay off his personal debts.
Pippen has also lost plenty of money due to child support. The seven-time All-Star has had eight children with four different women. While one of those children passed away just nine days after birth, and another passed away at the age of 33 last year, Pippen spent nearly his entire career paying child support.
Check out Scottie Pippen's highlights below:
Scottie Pippen's net worth impacted by the NBA's worst contract
Scottie Pippen's net worth was also impacted by his contract extension with the Chicago Bulls following the 1990-1991 season. Led by Pippen and Michael Jordan, the Bulls were coming off their first NBA championship in franchise history when they re-signed Pippen to a seven-year, $18 million contract extension.
While owner Jerry Reinsdorf advised Pippen against signing the contract, Pippen, who grew up poor and was about to turn 26 years old, opted for the long-term financial security. Pippen's salary in his first season made him the NBA's 16th-highest paid player, fair value for a player who had made just one All-Star Team, one All-Defensive Team, and zero All-NBA Teams.
Pippen would break out after signing his new contract, making the All-NBA Team in each of the seven years. Additionally, he made the All-Star Team in the first six years of the deal, while making the All-Defensive Team in each of the next nine seasons.
Furthermore, NBA contracts exploded over the course of his deal. Pippen was the eighth-highest paid player in the NBA by the second year of his new contract. However, he dropped to 24th in year three and 91st in year four. Following a slight climb to 74th in year five, Pippen dropped out of the top-100 highest-paid players altogether.
Over the final two years of his contract, Pippen was the 128th and 122nd highest-paid player, respectively. Additionally, he was just the sixth-highest paid player on the Bulls roster over those final two seasons, despite being their second-best player. While he signed a five-year, $67.2 million contract with the Houston Rockets upon the conclusion of his Bulls extension, the seven-year pact hindered Pippen's career earning potential.
Check out Scottie Pippen's top ten dunks below:
Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan beef
Since the release of the “The Last Dance” docu-series in 2020, the relationship between Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen took a massive hit. Jordan and Pippen are known as one of the greatest duos in the history of the NBA and are dubbed “Batman and Robin”.
However, since 2020, these two have been surrounded by drama which the media is keeping close tabs on. Scottie was quite upset with the docu-series as it was supposed to feature the 1997-98 season of the Chicago Bulls but instead solely focused on Jordan and his career.
Scottie Pippen in his memoir “Unguarded” wrote:
"They glorified Michael Jordan while not giving nearly enough praise to me and my proud teammates."
"Michael deserved a large portion of the blame. The producers had granted him the editorial control of the final product. The docu-series couldn’t have been released otherwise. He was the leading man and the director.”
To add fuel to the fire, Scottie Pippen and his ex-wife Larsa Pippen have finalized their divorce in 2021. Only a year after going their separate ways, Larsa Pippen was spotted with Marcus Jordan, the son of Michael Jordan.