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Shaquille O’Neal Defends Phil Jackson From Scottie Pippen’s Accusations 

Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen continues to emerge at the forefront of NBA discussions for his non-stop controversial opinions. Recently, Pippen irked plenty of people including Shaquille O’Neal for his comments about certain personalities, particularly Phil Jackson and Charles Barkley.

In a GQ interview, Pippen revealed that Jackson was racially motivated for drawing up the final play for Toni Kukoc instead of him during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks in 1994 NBA playoffs. Pippen also touched on his rift with Charles Barkley and sounded off on the now-TNT host during the same interview.

Shaquille O’Neal, who played under Jackson and is also a current colleague of Barkley, was among the personalities who reacted to Pippen’s comments. Joining FanSided’s Mark Carman, O’Neal defended his former head coach and said that Pippen’s comments might have been intended for marketing.

“I don’t want to get involved in other people’s beef, but Phil is definitely not a racist, O’Neal said.“What he said about Barkley makes a lot of sense, but he’s coming out with a new drink and a new book. Maybe this is all marketing.”