Here's How Much Scottie Pippen Is Actually Worth
One of the best NBA players of all time, Scottie Pippen has an impressive net worth of $20 million, per Celebrity Net Worth. His career has been the topic of renewed interest ever since the premiere of the 2021 documentary "The Last Dance." The ESPN series focused on Michael Jordan's prolific NBA career and highlighted Pippen's contributions to the team. However, despite his talent on the court, Pippen was always seen as second best to Jordan, and he described the series and Jordan's participation in it as "disrespectful" in his memoir "Unguarded." "Each episode was the same: Michael on a pedestal, his teammates secondary, smaller, the message no [different] from when he referred to us back then as his 'supporting cast.'" To add insult to injury, Jordan was reportedly paid $10 million to appear in the series, while Pippen and the rest of his teammates were paid nothing.
These days, Jordan is known as much for his business acumen as his athleticism. Long retired, he brings in over $100 million a year from brand deals alone. But what about Pippen? While he can't match Jordan there, he's almost as business savvy as Jordan, managing to capitalize on his fame and NBA salary almost as well as the former superstar. Below, we dig into Pippen's net worth, from his lavish properties to his less than prudent purchase of a gulf stream.
Scottie Pippen invests in property
Property is always a good investment, and, over the years, Scottie Pippen has poured some of his fortune into his homes. Since Pippen got his big break with the Chicago Bulls, it makes sense that some of his major investments would be in the Windy City. In 2021, Pippen sold his Highland Park home for just under $2 million. He had originally bought the home back in 2004, but kept it as an investment property after moving to Los Angeles years later. Before closing the sale in 2021, he teamed up with Airbnb and rented the home out to curious fans as part of a promotion for the Tokyo Olympics, per People.
Though Pippen is a gracious host when it comes to his property, he's also fiercely protective. In 2018, he took Lindsay Glazer and Jacob Woloshin to court for alleged damage to one of his Miami properties. The couple rented the property from Pippen for $30,000 a month for a period of six months between 2017 and 2018. When they left, Pippen claimed they left the place in disrepair. The couple allegedly damaged furniture, stole property, failed to clean and pay utilities, and allowed their child to draw in the walls, per Radar. All in all, Pippen said the damages were assessed at just over $109,000, which was the amount he was requesting in the suit. In 2022, he dropped the legal action without any further conflict.
He made a lot from brand deals
After joining the NBA with a modest salary of less than $1 million, Scottie Pippen managed to negotiate a pay increase thanks to his talent on the court, per Popsugar. Along with Michael Jordan, Pippen led the Chicago Bulls to victory more than once, and with that notoriety came increased business opportunities, per the Chicago Tribune. He signed his first major brand deal back in 1996 with Frito-Lay. His image was plastered all over the chips' packaging, and he signed on to appear in an NBA star-studded commercial for the product. Around that time, he also signed deals with Visa, Ameritech Cellular, and Nike. Considering all those endorsements, it's entirely possible that Pippen made twice as much off the court as he did on the court in 1996 alone. Since then, Pippen has signed on with mega companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, per Celebrity Net Worth.
In the '90s, Jordan was pulling in upwards of $30 million in endorsement deals a year, and perhaps because of Jordan's off-court business acumen, Pippen became highly aware of his public persona and how he could market that into an income. "Scottie has become more focused long-term," a manager told the Tribune in 1996. "He wants to be known not only as a great player, but as a nice guy as well."
Scottie Pippen earned more than Michael Jordan in the NBA
When you think of the '90s Chicago Bulls, the first person you think of is undoubtedly Michael Jordan. Jordan went down in history as an incredible player and made his mark off the court as an incredible businessman. On top of his NBA earnings, Jordan pulls in around $100 million a year thanks to his Airjordans deal with Nike, per Forbes. Widely known as one of the most monetarily successful athletes of all time, it might come as a surprise to learn that Scottie Pippen actually earned more than Jordan during his time in the NBA.
When Pippen joined the team in the '80s, he was making about $700,000 a year. A ton of money by any standard other than the NBA, per Popsugar. By the time he retired in 2008, he was making $19 million a year. Take that and add in the additional $10 million he was paid to mentor the younger players until officially leaving in 2010, and Pippen walked away with $108 million from the NBA alone. By comparison, Jordan only earned $90 million from the league, per Forbes. So, while Pippen was always considered Jordan's second best, at least he bested him in one way.
The basketball superstar has been involved in some pricey lawsuits
The higher the net worth, the pricier the lawsuit is something Scottie Pippen might say. As his net worth has continued to climb, so has the price of his legal troubles. Let's start in small claims court. In 2019, Pippen's alleged ex-girlfriend, with whom he supposedly had an affair in the '90s, sued him for $9,999, per The Blast. Chyvette Valentine claimed that, even though Pippen was married to Karen McCullum at the time, they engaged in a years-long affair. Valentine was seeking back payment in expenses she said stemmed from her traveling to meet Pippen while he was on the road. The case was later dismissed.
$9,999 is far from the most expensive suit Pippen has faced, however. In 2013, he was sued for a whopping $4 million after getting into an altercation with a fan named Camran Shafighi. Pippen won that suit, with the judge ruling that he was acting in self-defense and that Shafighi had faked or exaggerated many of his injuries after the altercation, per TMZ.
He was fired from his role with the Bulls
When Scottie Pippen retired from the NBA, he already had millions of dollars and no need to work, but he just couldn't pass up a lucrative contract with the Chicago Bulls. So back in 2012, four years after his retirement, the team that made him famous offered him a position as team ambassador. Pippen so excelled at the role that he was promoted to senior advisor, per Bleacher Report. "His generous personality and sense of humor helps him connect with our partners, fans, and front office, and that's evident through his work with our Corporate Sales and Branding departments, as well as Chicago Bulls Charities," a statement from the Bulls read. "We're so fortunate to have Scottie and his wife, Larsa, as part of the Bulls family."
By 2020, though, Pippen had been let go from the prestigious position. "I got fired this year. ... I didn't really want it to be out in the public, but I'm no longer employed by the Bulls," Pippen said in an appearance on the Thuzio Live Podcast. Pippen hasn't spoken publicly about why he was let go, but it seems like there is no love lost between him and his former team. "It's probably a good thing, right?" he joked. "I like to associate myself with winning."
He made some bad investments
Anyone who's made as much money as Scottie Pippen will tell you to only make deals with people you trust. Unfortunately, Pippen learned that the hard way in 2005, when he filed suit against his former attorneys, whom he charged with handling large sums of his money. Pippen alleged the law firm Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman and one of its lawyers, Sheldon T. Zenner, failed to protect his money, per Aba Journal. The suit stemmed from an early win for Pippen, in which the courts awarded him over $11 million after a financial advisor made some bad deals. It turns out the advisor in question, Robert Lunn, was a client of the firm, meaning they should never have handled Pippen's money, as it was a conflict of interest.
Pippen took different attorneys to court yet again in 2010 for allegedly misleading him about a potential purchase. Pippen demanded the Chicago-based law firm Pedersen & Houpt pay him back $8 million that they allegedly misadvised him to spend, per the Chicago Tribune. The problem arose when Pippen wanted to purchase a jet, but his attorneys' alleged conflict of interest presented monetary issues for the baller down the road. The matter was settled, with Pippen receiving $2 million from the firm, as the jury found him also partially at fault. Nevertheless, he was satisfied with the outcome. "It was not all that we asked for, but it was not an insignificant amount," his representative told the outlet.
Scottie Pippen fought over alimony in his divorce
Back in 2016, when Scottie Pippen filed for divorce from Larsa Pippen, things got messy. He filed the paperwork after the police allegedly responded to domestic disturbances between himself and Larsa twice in a month. At that point, things were definitely not on good terms. As part of the legal proceedings, Scottie demanded full custody of their four children, per Radar Online, and also filed for the right to immediately move their kids from Florida to Chicago. Then there was the money. Whatever the couple agreed to in the prenup was allegedly too generous for Scottie's liking 19 years later. As part of the divorce filings, Scottie also requested that the prenup be changed. It's unclear what exactly he wanted altered, but, based on his additional filing to not pay alimony, it's a pretty good guess it had to do with money.
There was still a lot of love left between the couple, though, and by 2017, they'd put the divorce on hold to try and work things out. A few months later, however, in 2018, Larsa filed paperwork to move the original divorce proceedings forward. The second go around was less messy, at least. They agreed to split custody and Scottie consented to pay child support, though the amount remains private. "They worked together amicably, with the help of a retired judge-mediator and their respective attorneys, to come to agreement on all of the issues," Larsa's attorney told E! News.