Scottie vs Contract Injustice

My Hero, Scottie Pippen:

Early on Scottie knew he did not have much. His mother: Ethal Pippen, and father Preston Pippen, gave birth to 12 children. Preston’s father worked in a paper mill but that later became a hindrance to his health. Suffering from a stroke he became paralyzed in his right side, also affecting his speech. Despite Scottie’s home conditions he managed to lead his team to state playoffs and earning first team all-conference. Unfortunately, he was unable to earn any scholarships. Scottie enrolled into the University of Central Arkansas as a regular student, he later earned a spot on the men’s basketball team as a walk-on. Scottie experienced a crazy growth spurt growing from 6’1” to 6’8”. He was drafted in the NBA after his senior year.

1. What was his role in his society?

In Scottie's environment, his role was to play alongside Micheal Jordan. Although they were both superstars Scottie was stuck in Michel’s shadow. They got along very well and played extremely well together. But the most common confusion is why was Scottie’s deal so much less than Micheal’s. Scottie would earn Pippen $18 million for the span of 7 years starting at 3.1 million while Micheal’s contract inflated from 6 million to 27 million in 7 years. Keep in mind that they both play off of each other, both leading the team in stats, ppg, stls, blks, etc.

2. How did that affect his career?

Scottie’s 7-year contract drove a wedge between his role as a player and his role as a provider. It would already be difficult to take care of a 14-person household, but trying to perform at such a high level every day would be even more challenging. This injustice affected everyone around Scottie: his family, team, work deals, etc. Scottie decided that he would no longer be paid as a low-level player. “all of the most underpaid All-NBA seasons posted by various stars using what percentage of the salary cap they earned those years.” Hoops hype

Luckily for Pippen, he did get to sign one monster contract during his time in the NBA. It came when the Bulls signed and traded him to the Houston Rockets in January of 1999 and was worth five years and $67.2 million. (The Portland Trail Blazers would end up paying most of that, as they traded for Pippen the following offseason.) And overall, he did earn nearly $110 million for his playing career, a very pretty penny for a player who reached the Association in the late 1980s. But that doesn’t change the fact that Pippen was severely underpaid in the NBA.

3. How should we react to injustice?

In our individual societies, we should embrace the struggle of injustice just like Scottie Pippen did. He did not allow his financial circumstances to affect his performance as a player, and teammate. Of course, some adjustments were eventually made but throughout all that happened, we learned to let things happen. We can only control what we can control. As citizens in today’s society, you face challenges every day. It is about how you react to those challenges. What will you do differently to overcome these challenges? How will you embrace the struggle?