Chicago Bulls: 5 most hated Scottie Pippen rivals ever

Hated rivals of Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen: Charles Barkley

For multiple reasons, the rivalry between Pippen and the former Phoenix Suns and Rockets superstar forward Charles Barkley is very serious to this day. It is very clear that Pippen and Barkley don’t like each other in the modern-day. Just listen to any interviews that the two still give in recent years.

At this point, it is mostly Pippen that calls out Barkley at the outset. But it didn’t always start that way.

The crazy thing about Barkley making this list of the biggest Pippen rivals of all time is the fact that these two were teammates. It seemed like Barkley and Pippen were both getting what they wanted in a way where the latter of those two arrived in Houston.

And at the outset of Barkley and Pippen as teammates with the Rockets, there were signs of things boiling over very fast. Barkley had to take a pay cut for the Rockets to land Pippen on that big-time sign-and-trade deal to get him from the Bulls in the late 1990s.

It wasn’t necessarily direct conflicts that started the heat between Pippen and Barkley initially. Barkley missing time due to injury and getting out of shape (according to some) from time to time started to create some friction between these two.

When things really boiled over was when the Rockets weren’t able to find the postseason success that so many thought this team could get to with all of the big-name stars in the mix.

Pippen didn’t like getting the ball less oftentimes than the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon and Barkley. He didn’t like that aspect of joining the Rockets. And that eventually was one of the factors that led to him leaving Houston for Portland.

These were not the brightest years of Pippen’s career. And they weren’t the best for Barkley either. But these two constantly throwing shots at each other, without much love ever being shared, would eventually cause a permanent fit that still lasts to this day.