Scottie Pippen Net Worth - Pulptastic

What is Scottie Pippen’s Net Worth

Scottie Pippen, a retired American professional basketball player, has a net worth of $20 million. He played 17 seasons in the NBA and earned $109 million in salary alone, along with millions more from endorsements.

Pippen played nine seasons with the Chicago Bulls and was a key player in their six NBA championship wins and their record-breaking 1995-96 season. He was a seven-time NBA All-Star and the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1994. In 1996-97, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls. Pippen is also the only NBA player to have won an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, in 1992 and 1996.

Scottie Pippen’s Salary Controversy

Scottie Pippen signed a 7-year, $18 million contract extension in 1991. During this time, Michael Jordan was earning $30+ million per year. Scottie’s contract turned into a source of frustration for him as he felt he deserved a renewed extension. Despite this, Scottie’s $109 million in total NBA salary ended up being higher than Michael’s $94 million. The majority of his career earnings came thanks to a five-year $67.2 million contract with the Houston Rockets prior to the 1998-1999 season. He then earned an additional $10 million after returning to the Bulls during his final two career seasons.

Interestingly, Scottie signed his first contract extension to create security for his family. He grew up in poverty, one of 12 children, with both a father and a brother in wheelchairs.

Scottie Pippen’s Endorsements

Scottie Pippen started his NBA career wearing Avia sneakers but eventually switched to Nike. He released several signature shoes with Nike, including the popular Pippen 1 in 1997. Besides Nike, he also had endorsement deals with Ameritech Cellular TV, Frito-Lay, Visa, McDonald’s, Right Guard, and Coca-Cola.

Early Life

Scotty Maurice Pippen was born on September 25, 1965, in Hamburg, Arkansas. He is the youngest of Ethel and Preston Pippen’s 12 children. Pippen’s mother was 6 feet tall and his father was 6 foot 1 inch. All of their children were tall, but Scottie was the tallest. Scottie’s dad worked in a paper mill until a stroke paralyzed him on his right side.

High School and College

Scottie led the Hamburg High School basketball team to the state playoffs and was awarded all-conference honors his senior year. Pippen wasn’t offered any scholarships to college and started out playing for the University of Central Arkansas. In college, he had a per game average of 23.6 points, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and almost 60% field goal shooting.

NBA Career

Pippen was selected in the first round of the 1987 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics. The Bulls were interested in him but their draft pick wasn’t low enough to get them. The team arranged a trade with Seattle to get Pippen.

Scottie Pippen’s NBA Career

Scottie Pippen made his NBA debut in 1987 with the Chicago Bulls. He claimed the starting small forward position during the 1988 NBA Playoffs, helping the Bulls reach the conference semifinals for the first time in over a decade. Pippen was an NBA All-Star selection for the first time in 1990.

During the 1990-91 season, Pippen emerged as the primary defensive stopper and a huge scoring threat. He helped lead the Bulls to their first three-peat, winning the NBA championships in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Pippen was instrumental in the Bulls’ second three-peat, winning the NBA championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998.

In 1998, Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Roy Rogers and a second-round pick in the 2000 NBA draft. From 1998-2003 Pippen played for the Portland Trailblazers. After the 2002–03 season, Pippen left Portland in order to sign with the Chicago Bulls. On July 20, 2003, as Pippen signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the franchise. On October 5, 2004, Pippen announced his retirement.

In January 2008, Pippen made a brief comeback to professional basketball at age 42, playing two games for top Finnish league team Torpan Pojat (ToPo) and top Swedish league team Sundsvall. Pippen returned to the Bulls on July 15, 2010, as a team ambassador. In 2012, he was named senior advisor to Michael Reinsdorf, the Bulls’ president and COO.

Pippen is remembered as one of the most versatile and agile players, and perhaps most notably as one of the greatest defenders ever. His intense work ethic and athletic physique gave him the ability to consistently make highlight-reel plays.

Scottie Pippen’s Olympic Success

In 1992, Pippen was selected as part of the original Dream Team for the United States men’s Olympic basketball team in Barcelona, Spain. The U.S. went on to win the gold medal, and Pippen and Michael Jordan became the first players to achieve both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.

Scottie Pippen’s Personal Life

Scottie Pippen has been married twice. His first marriage was to Karen McCollum in 1988, and they had a son named Antron in 1987. However, they divorced in 1990. He then married Larsa Younan, who is known as Larsa Pippen from the Real Housewives of Miami, in 1997. They have four children together: Scotty Jr. (2000), Preston (2002), Justin (2005), and Sophia (2008).

Pippen also has a daughter named Sierra Pippen, who was born in 1995 from his former fiancée Yvette De Leon. Additionally, he has a daughter named Taylor Pippen, who was born in 1994 from his former girlfriend and model Sonya Roby. Sadly, Taylor’s twin sister Tyler passed away nine days after birth.

Scottie Pippen’s Financial Speed Bumps

Over the years, rumors have circulated about Scottie Pippen’s financial problems post-retirement. While some claims may be exaggerated, Pippen has faced a few financial speed bumps.

The largest hurdle came from a former financial advisor named Robert Lunn. Pippen sued Lunn in 2016 for squandering $20 million of his money. Lunn allegedly committed bank fraud by giving over $7 million to a friend with a sketchy history to invest in real estate, which ultimately went bankrupt, taking the money with it.

Lunn also advised Pippen to spend $4 million on a Gulfstream private jet, which turned out to be non-working and required an additional $1 million in repairs to make it air-worthy.

In March 2016, Lunn was sentenced to three years in prison for multiple fraud counts, including forging Pippen’s signature on a $1.4 million loan used to pay off personal debts.

Scottie Pippen’s Real Estate Portfolio

In 2004, Scottie and Larsa Pippen bought a 10,000 square foot home on 2.6 acres in Highland Park for $2.225 million. The property has six bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a home movie theater, a sauna, a game room, a brick wine cellar, and a custom-built indoor basketball court with a picture of Pippen’s Chicago Bulls jersey emblazoned on the floor. In 2016, Pippen listed the property for $3.1 million, but after three years on the market, he lowered the price to $1.899 million.

Pippen also owned a Venetian-style mansion in Harbor Beach, one of Fort Lauderdale’s most exclusive neighborhoods. The mansion was built in 2003 and comes with a pool, basketball court, gourmet kitchen, game room, media room, and waterfront views. The property was on and off the market for a decade, with a peak listing price of $16 million. At one point, the home was offered as a luxury rental for $40,000 a month. In September 2021, Scottie finally sold this property for $10.54 million.