Scottie Pippen backing Kyrie Irving is especially interesting

Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan’s legendary sidekick, recently commented on the Kyrie Irving fiasco that is taking over the Cavaliers right now.

Kyrie Irving and Scottie Pippen have both been second fiddles to the NBA’s top players of all-time. This gives Pippen a significant amount of say in how Kyrie feels and what he should do moving forward.

According to ESPN, Scottie Pippen said this regarding Kyrie and his recent trade request.

"“I am a very strong supporter of what he’s doing because I’ve watched what has happened to him in his career and how things went for him in Cleveland, and I think he’s at a superstar level now that he can control his own destiny,” he said. “A lot of players in our game have that opportunity and they don’t take advantage of it. I think it’s the perfect timing, Cleveland didn’t win a championship, they were right there, but there’s been a lot of things going on within that organization.”"

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Scottie Pippen, who is 51 now, played his first 11 NBA seasons as a Chicago Bulls. At his peak, Pippen was incredible, averaging 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. From 1987-1998, Pippen helped make Chicago one of the most iconic franchises in the NBA. Over the course of his NBA career, salary-wise, Pippen actually made more than Jordan, but that was because of his time spent away from the Bulls: time spent in Portland and Houston.

Pippen understands where Irving is. In their time together, Pippen’s 22 points per game that one season would have been extremely underwhelming to Michael Jordan, who averaged over 24 points per game every season the two were together with that number even reaching low 30’s multiple times. Pippen, who didn’t leave the Bulls until he was 33, understands that Kyrie Irving wants a team to be his. In that video linked above, Pippen said if he goes back, leaving Jordan would have been the best thing for him as a person and financially.

Irving, who scored 25.2 points per game last season, has blossomed into one of the league’s top point guards under the leadership of LeBron James. It shouldn’t be too crazy to think that it is time Kyrie Irving takes control of his own future and stops relying on James and company to carry him to the Finals and take the glory. When it was all said and done, Kyrie’s shot was memorable, but off the court, it was James with his “Cleveland, this is for you.” that will also live in the Cleveland history forever.

Wherever Irving goes, success should follow. It will be up to the Cavaliers to make it happen, but the fans should take a second and really think about how hard that decision had to have been for Irving. The 25-year-old just shook the entire NBA world and has forced the trade of the offseason to happen.

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Fans should really listen to that video in order to understand where Pippen is coming from and how much sense it makes for Irving to find his own team.