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Scottie Pippen Once Blew $4.3 Million On A Private Jet That Wasn’t Even Able To Fly

In Netflix and ESPN’s joint production ‘The Last Dance’, a 10-part documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, we all got a reminder of how drastically underpaid Scottie Pippen was during his time with the Bulls.

Pippen earned just over $18 million in a 7-year span, only good for 122nd in the NBA among all players over that period of time. In the 1997/98 season for example, Pippen made $2.8 million, while his teammate Michael Jordan made way over $30 million. 

So when Pippen went to sign a contract worth over $15 million per year with the Blazers, everyone in the league knew that he was well deserving of that money, even though it should have been the Bulls’ task to pay him that kind of money.

But, as well all know due to plenty of expamples, some NBA players aren’t necessarily good when it comes to spending or investing money. It turns out, that Scottie Pippen is one of these players. In 2002, the 6-time champion reportedly bought a private jet, a Gulfstream, for $4.3 Million dollars.

So far, so good. Who wouldn’t want to own a private jet to comfortably fly around the world at any given time?! But that exactly was the problem – the jet didn’t even work. Not knowing the jet was broken and therefore grounded, prior to paying for it, Pippen was forced to pay an extra million, just for it to be able to work.