Back in 1992, what would be a very important trio of Chicago Bulls players in the mid-to-late 1990s met in Barcelona during the Summer Olympic Games. This trio included all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan and Hall-of-Fame forward Scottie Pippen for the United States, and newly inducted Hall-of-Fame forward Toni Kukoc for Croatia.
At the time, Kukoc was just 23 years old and was a promising second-round draft pick of the Bulls two years prior. Kukoc would not actually join the likes of Jordan, Pippen (also someone he noted as his favorite Bulls teammate), and the Bulls until the 1993-94 season. Jordan also wasn’t back with the team yet as he was trying his hand at baseball at the time with the Chicago White Sox organization.
Jordan would eventually re-join the Bulls down the stretch during the 1994-95 season, Kukoc’s second with the team. The following season the Bulls would return to glory to begin the second of two three-peat title runs in the 1990s.
And now more than 25 years later, all three of these players are in the Hall-of-Fame. Kukoc is the most recent inductee, joining the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall-of-Fame with the class of 2021. Some of the other notable inductees in this year’s class include Ben Wallace, Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Bill Russell (as a coach), Jay Wright, etc.
"I would like to thank Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for kicking my butt during the Olympics in Barcelona, and then motivating me to work even harder to become an important part of the Chicago Bulls." - Toni Kukoc pic.twitter.com/dPihZfdudB
— NBA (@NBA) September 12, 2021
In his Hall-of-Fame induction speech, Kukoc did mention when he faced Jordan and Pippen in the 1992 Summer Olympics. That was when the Bulls’ legendary duo was playing with the “Dream Team” in 1992. Team USA dominated the competition, including Kukoc and the Croatian squad, en route to a Gold Medal in Barcelona.
Toni Kukoc happy about what Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did to him in the Olympics before joining the Chicago Bulls
Kukoc noted in his Hall-of-Fame speech that he “would like to thanks” Jordan and Pippen for “kicking my butt during the Olympics in Barcelona”. He stated that he made him “work even harder” to become an integral part of the Bulls in the 1990s.
It’s cool to hear someone like Kukoc say this since he was such an important part of the cast around the likes of Jordan and Pippen. You could easily argue that the two most important players for the Bulls in the mid-to-late 1990s, outside of Jordan and Pippen, were fellow Hall-of-Fame forward Dennis Rodman and Kukoc.
The three-time NBA Champion and 1995-96 Sixth Man of the Year Kukoc is the fifth member of any of the 1990s Bulls teams to be inducted into the Hall-of-Fame. The other four are Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, and Robert Parish.
As part of the 2021 induction class into the Hall-of-Fame, Wallace becomes the most recent player for any Bulls team to get that honor. Wallace, Pippen, and Kukoc are now the only three players from any Bulls team since the turn of the century to be in the Hall-of-Fame.