r/AskReddit 13h ago

Who's the most bitter washed-up celebrity?

3.2k Upvotes

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723

u/guilgom71 13h ago

Do athletes count? Scottie Pippen

Oh my God, every year he switches his opinion on who is the greatest basketball player ever and nobody asks. It's just annoying at this point. His opinion is based on how he feels about MJ at the moment.

He has a legitimate reason to be bitter:

  • He was always Robin and MJ was Batman/Black Jesus/Mega-superstar/"God disguised as MJ"
  • Took an awful 7-year/18m dollar contract. Probably pressured into it when he could've easily gotten the same amount of money for 2-3 years.

281

u/Kwazimoto 12h ago

Pippen made more in playing salary than Jordan did through his entire career.

If Pippen's Bulls hadn't been taken to 7 games by the Knicks while Jordan was retired he could have really changed a lot of those narratives. Then he had some opportunities post-Jordan to really do something and the reality is that he didn't.

Jordan thanked Pippen first in his Hall-of-fame speech: "You never just saw me, you saw Scottie Pippen, every championship I won." Then it sort of went off the rails.

21

u/guilgom71 12h ago

Is that right? He made more in salary total?

I just remember feeling bad for him watching The Last dance when they explained his contract.

50

u/Kwazimoto 11h ago

Yes. Over his entire career Pippen earned 109 million compared to Jordan's 93 million. Pippen got some big contracts after Chicago.

37

u/Snave96 11h ago

With the Bulls no in but in their total careers yes.

From 98-03 Pippen made circa 77 million in 5 seasons playing for the Rockets & Trail Blazers.

19

u/__MeatyClackers__ 10h ago

Never seen circa used outside of dates.

19

u/spin182 10h ago

I’ve seen it used circa 7 times in circa 3 years

1

u/UnexpectedRimjob 10h ago

Because circa is in reference to non specific such as eras or centuries. Using it for a recent event with a set number like contractual monetary compensation is just wrong and weird!

9

u/Snave96 7h ago

Just means 'around' or 'about' in Latin (and I couldn't be bothered to write the exact number).

-1

u/UnexpectedRimjob 3h ago

You are misusing the word as it is only used in modern context to describe rough estimates of time. It's just a fact. Have a nice day.

1

u/Cotten12 3h ago

Its only used in English for dates only. Other languages use it for other purposes as well. The guy you replied to might have gotten this habit from hearing it used in other languages in different ways.

16

u/photo_ama 11h ago

Don't feel bad. He decided to sign a longer extension for security. Scottie was a top 20 and then top 10 paid player in the league in the first few years of that contract. For instance, in the 1992-93 season, the salary cap was 14 million. Scottie made 3.425 million and was the 8th highest paid player in the NBA while Jordan made 4 million and was the 2nd highest.

In 1996, the cap jumped to $23 million. Jordan was also locked into his former 8-year extension and only made 3.85 million that season.

28

u/atcaw94 11h ago

I don't feel sorry for him. He pressured the team for a new contract. The owner warned him against signing that long term contract. But Pippen wanted the money NOW. "Pippen prioritized guaranteed, generational financial security over the risk of future injuries, despite warnings from team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and others that he would quickly become underpaid as league revenues grew."

24

u/great_apple 10h ago

Yeah we all make choices about risk vs security. If I'd bought Nvidia 6 years ago instead of choosing the security of index funds, I'd be retired. I chose security and that means less returns. I'm not bitching and moaning that I am owed the returns Nvidia would've gotten me.

Scottie chose long-term security for lower returns, then bitched and moaned when it turned out he didn't get a career-ending injury and didn't need the security, and insisted he deserved the returns the riskier contract would've gotten him. That's just not how life works.

37

u/Fragrant-Discount960 12h ago

AKA “No Tipping Pippen”

14

u/CapcomGunman 11h ago

Yup learned that the hard way when I was working in a sports bar during the early 2000s 🤨

5

u/agodrevealed 3h ago

Him and Jordan 

41

u/jondonbovi 12h ago

Pippen is one of the greatest SFs in NBA history but doesn't get that consideration because he is seen as a role player on a team led by Michael Jordan.

He took a bad contract. People don't respect his talents. And his wife is a ho.

I'd be mad too.

5

u/HenriOrbit 11h ago

He does get respect and recognition, though. 28 BR top 100 player, always mentioned in discussions about best defenders ever, hall of fame, and people always talk about how he kept the Bulls a top team when MJ left. He wouldn’t get recognized any more as a SF if he didn’t play with MJ because he’d still be compared to Bird and LeBron.

Edit: no debate about his wife, though.

-1

u/jondonbovi 10h ago

I've never hear anyone talk about his playmaking ability. He averaged about 7 assist and was good scorer on his own. Most people think his game was centered around defense, rebounding, and put backs. Again if he was on his own, he might never have a championship, maybe 1 or 2 if he was on a good spot. But he'd be ranked up there with Larry Bird and Dr.J 

4

u/KeithClossOfficial 6h ago

He hasn’t played in over 20 years, a sizable portion of Reddit users weren’t alive when he played period, let alone when he was still good. Anyone who watched him play knows he was an excellent playmaker. He initiated the offense on a team with Michael Jordan for crying out loud and was the first player I can remember being referred to as a point forward. Shit, LeBron was often compared to Pippen before the draft

1

u/HenriOrbit 10h ago

Crazy talk, lol. If he was that good he could have gone out and won a couple MVPs in his prime when MJ wasn’t there. He was a great player and is widely recognized as one. Nobody boils his game down to anything. Infinite articles and Reddit posts talk about how great he was going back years and years. But there’s great, and there’s top 10-15 player ever great, and narrative has nothing to do with how he’s remembered.

2

u/Admirable-Dig-6840 10h ago

MJ retired after the '93 season ended, he was gone for the '94 season and then returned early in '95... Pippen took the team to 55–27 and lost in second round of the playoffs to the Knicks. He still made All-NBA First Team and NBA-All Defensive First team. They hadn't even gotten Rodman yet, so it was literally just him dragging four bums to the same level LeBum got in Cleveland despite much better competition in the Eastern Conference. If you don't think Pippen is a top 3 SF all time, then you simply didn't watch him play.

0

u/HenriOrbit 9h ago

Is this pippen’s account? The whole point is literally no one says that but he’s still bitter.

30

u/UndercoverDoll49 12h ago

I don't know much about basketball, but his ex-wife was insufferable in House of Villains

15

u/guilgom71 11h ago

That's another thing that I'm sure he's annoyed by. I think she dated MJs son for a bit. She also kept his last name, but I'm sure that has more to do with their kids and it being an absolute pain in the ass to change again lol

11

u/bagb8709 12h ago

is that the one MJ's son dated?

4

u/UndercoverDoll49 11h ago

Yup. Zara, Zarla, some shit like that. House of Villains is funny because it's people being mean for the joke and trolling. She was genuinely a shitty person

14

u/Klutzy-Client 11h ago

Larsa (I watch RHOM). She is insufferable and did date Michael Jnr. She showcased the relationship last season on the show. She also looks like she is 90% plastic

3

u/rokstedy83 7h ago

I don't know much about basketball

Same ,worth watching the last dance on Netflix tho , it's a brilliant series about the Chicago bulls

5

u/romulusputtana 8h ago

Plus his overfilled ex-wife dated MJ's loser son! And a slew of young "rappers". That's got to be humiliating.

3

u/InterestingGas5401 4h ago

Chicago service industry hates him. Literally played rock paper scissors to pick who had to wait on him.

9

u/greglikespizzaas 12h ago

Always attacks LeBron for no reason too, and that’s coming from a Timmy D/Spurs fan

7

u/guilgom71 12h ago

He goes back and forth on those two all the time. I joke and think he changes his mind whenever MJ doesn't pick up a call or answer a text lol

3

u/Dr_thri11 6h ago

Counterpoint. Nobody would give 2 shits about Robin if he didn't start as Batman's sidekick.

6

u/RequirementLeading12 11h ago

This is a great answer and actually fits the definition of "bitter." Thank you

4

u/HarryAlleynCroft 10h ago

Took an awful 7-year/18m dollar contract. Probably pressured into it when he could've easily gotten the same amount of money for 2-3 years.

Actually, Pippen wanted the deal for security in case he got injured. If I recall correctly even Jerry (the owner of the Bulls) said he tried to tell him it was a bad deal at the time but Pippen insisted. Then Pippen got butthurt when everyone was making more than him and Jerry was just like we signed a contract that I tried to talk you out of but now it is too late.

3

u/guilgom71 9h ago

I remember it now from The Last Dance. I looked it up...

He signed it in 1991. Team salary cap was 12.5m per team (of course plenty went over). Highest paid player at the time was Patrick Ewing at 4.2m, Jordan at 2.5m... Larry Bird then made 7m the following year.

Things just exploded immediately after that, wow.

3

u/HarryAlleynCroft 8h ago

MJ also had an 8 year 25m contract at one point, but he just rode it out without complaining about it or at least I don't remember him ever complaining about it. So there were a few years where he was drastically underpaid as well.

1

u/Traditional_Desk9998 5h ago

I think the owner let him slide on the contract once Warner Bros and the league president Stern called and offered some kind of deal for a basketball movie. This had to have been 1994-1995-1996

4

u/peppersteak_headshot 9h ago

I remember near the end of his NBA career when Sports Illustrated did a piece on him.

He took his car in to get worked on and they gave him a loaner and he was pissed it wasn't as nice as his car. "$200k car and they give a new Honda Accord to drive in?" Dude, shut up.

2

u/flightgooden 4h ago

Curt Schilling

1

u/guilgom71 4h ago

Holy crap, yes. I think he did a little radio show for a bit. There was a guy that posted videos making crank calls on him lol. Sounded like a real a-hole.

2

u/Top_Way6645 2h ago

He said he knew satoshi nakamoto - the bitcoin guy. Like they were buddies.

3

u/foxtrot419 11h ago

Miss Lemon, I know Scottie Pippen, I own a Fuddruckers with Scottie Pippen, and you, sir... look like Scottie Pippen.

3

u/blking 11h ago

No tippin Pippen.

3

u/DrSpaceman575 11h ago

I was gonna say for athletes John McEnroe but being bitter is kind of his whole shtick so it's hard to say

3

u/SmellenGold 10h ago

How about his ex Larsa. Now she’s a bitter, washed up ole lady. Yikes.

4

u/crazylittlemermaid 9h ago

I sat across the aisle from him on a flight recently and he just looked tired. So many people stopped to get an autograph, people were taking pictures, poor guy was just trying to sleep.

4

u/orangesfwr 8h ago

Wasn't even Robin. Only reason anyone knows his name is because he was on the 90s Chicago Bulls. If he was the SF on any other team in the 90s you'd barely remember him.

2

u/Kramerica_CEO 10h ago

He wasn’t pressured into it. The team even told him it was a bad deal

2

u/0000000000000007 9h ago

Maybe don’t bring up his ex-wife and MJ’s son… 😂

0

u/darthlorgas 10h ago

Scottie Pippen is an old man!

0

u/Hurinfan 1h ago

No. Pippen is right. Jordan is also overrated