“He don’t want none of this here smoke!” – Scottie Pippen recalls how Suge Knight backed down from Charles Oakley originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Scottie Pippen knew Charles Oakley’s toughness wasn’t just for show. “Oak” carried the same edge everywhere, so much so that even Suge Knight, the feared music executive known for intimidation, kept his distance.
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“I’m sitting in the middle of the party and all of a sudden, I look up and I’m seeing all these people get pushed around,” the Chicago Bulls great recalled in an appearance on the “Chopping It Up With Oakley” podcast (H/T: Hiphop DX). “So Oak looks and said, ‘That’s Suge Knight. He don’t want none of this here smoke! I had beef with him the other night.”
“It was like a storm going on over there. Wasn’t nobody moving where we were standing, and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ And it was basically Suge Knight walked around Oakley like that,” added Pippen.
Knight wasn’t a small guy by any means. He was a former football player, standing 6’2″ and weighing 265 pounds, at least in his younger days. That said, “Oak Tree” is an athletically built 6’9″ and 230-pound power forward who also happens to be best friends with the most recognizable athlete on the planet, Michael Jordan.
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Suge may have gang ties, but Oakley isn’t one to back down.
When two bullies meet
Pippen joined Oakley and co-host Sasha del Valle on episode 8 of “Chopping It Up,” where the conversation naturally turned to their NBA days, including the season they shared as teammates in Chicago.
Even after the Bulls traded Oakley to the Knicks for Bill Cartwright, he and Pippen stayed close. So it wasn’t unusual to see them out together, even at nightclubs, despite playing on different teams.
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According to Scottie, he saw Charles check Suge after Oak had already gotten into it with someone whom nobody in Miami wanted to mess with.
“I look up. I’m seeing all these people. Probably three, four feet from me. They gettin’ pushed around, knocked around. Me and Oak standing there, you know, we both of stature so we could see everything. People could see us,” Pippen continued.
At that point, Suge and his entourage made their way around a sea of people, only to come face to face with Oakley. That’s when Oak allegedly checked Knight, who then avoided the basketball player all evening.
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Some might question how much of the story actually happened that way. After all, Knight wasn’t just any partygoer. He co-founded Death Row Records and had serious pull in Los Angeles at the time, so why would he back down from a random basketball player?
Still, whether every detail is accurate or not, the story fits with Oakley’s reputation. These kinds of run-ins weren’t out of character, as he had altercations with just about anyone who rubbed him the wrong way, on or off the court.
Oak’s beefs
Oakley was one of the most notorious enforcers in the NBA during the 1980s and 1990s. He was a rugged defender and a fearless rebounder, leading the Association in defensive rebounds per game in back-to-back seasons (1986-87 and 1987-88).
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With his brash persona and blunt approach, he had a way of getting under people’s skin. Or maybe they got under his, and Oakley only knew one way to respond.
Take, for instance, the time he nearly squared off with Judge Greg Mathis. According to Oakley’s own account on GQ, a confrontation at Derrick Coleman’s restaurant escalated when the judge came over to settle his tab in a way Oakley felt was disrespectful.
As always, Oakley didn’t back down. Instead, he physically pushed Mathis “real hard,” just to remind him that even off-court, Oak’s line wasn’t one to cross.
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“He said, “I’mma make these NBA boys pay for it.” He was out of order. He’s gonna tell me, “I’m gonna call my boys [on you].” He said, “This my city!” I don’t care whose city it is. You don’t tell anybody that you got some boys to come get me. He was dead wrong. It got kinda crazy,” Oakley said, describing the moment Mathis threatened him.
Aside from Judge Mathis, Oakley admitted he “slapped the sh-t” out of several former NBA players over the years. Among them: Charles Barkley, for taking shots at the Knicks during the 1998 lockout; Jeff McInnis, for what Oakley saw as blatant disrespect; and Tyrone Hill, for an unpaid $20,000 debt.
Unsurprisingly, the man got more beef than a Texas cookout.
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Same ol’ Oak
They say a leopard cannot change its stripes, and that’s precisely how Oak is. Whether it was Suge at a party, Judge Mathis in a restaurant, or Madison Square Garden security personnel, the rules remained the same: show respect or face the consequences.
Even in retirement, his presence still carries weight. Oakley doesn’t need to exaggerate or remind people who he was, as the stories, like the one Pippen recalled, do it for him. And in a league that has grown increasingly polished and image-conscious, there’s something about Oakley’s raw consistency that makes him stand out even more.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.