{"id":110965,"date":"2025-06-20T01:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T01:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/110965\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T01:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T01:29:07","slug":"bulls-legend-scottie-pippen-sees-himself-in-one-of-the-current-thunder-stars-during-the-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/110965\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls legend Scottie Pippen sees himself in one of the current Thunder stars during the NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scottie Pippen is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history, and a pillar of the Chicago Bulls<\/a>\u2018 legendary dynasty alongside Michael Jordan. Their six championships in the 1990s helped define an era of basketball excellence that many believe will never be replicated. Yet Pippen himself recently drew an eye-opening comparison between his own game and that of a current Oklahoma City Thunder player starring in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Pippen sees shades of his own style in 23-year-old Thunder forward Jalen Williams. But rather than limit the young star with comparisons to his own legacy, the Hall of Famer said he believes Williams could surpass him. Speaking to ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon, Pippen emphasized how the evolution of basketball\u2014particularly in offensive freedom\u2014has created more opportunities for players like Williams to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even want to put a cap on him and say that he\u2019s going to be me,\u201d Pippen said. \u201cI see him being greater, if I can say that. Just because of where the game is today. They have offensive freedom. We didn\u2019t have that; we mostly ran out of a system. Players that are playing in today\u2019s game have a better chance to be better than players in the past because of the ability to shoot the ball. If this kid continues to shoot the three-ball the way he shoots it, I\u2019m not going to sit here and argue with nobody and say that you can compare us. Because you can\u2019t. He wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pippen<\/a>\u2019s praise wasn\u2019t just about skill\u2014it was about style. The six-time NBA champion said he sees similarities in how both he and Williams impact the game on both ends of the floor. And while Pippen is already enshrined as one of the greatest two-way players in league history, he acknowledged that Williams\u2019 trajectory, especially in today\u2019s NBA, may put him in a class of his own.<\/p>\n

\"jalen-williams-thunder\"<\/p>\n

Jalen Williams #8 of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts after slam dunking during the second quarter in Game Seven of the Western Conference Second Round NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n

Williams, now in his second full season, has emerged as a cornerstone of a young Thunder squad that has stormed into the NBA<\/a> Finals. Long before he became one of the league\u2019s most promising stars, he was a student of the game, watching hours of old highlights from the Bulls\u2019 dynasty. Though he was born years after the Jordan-Pippen era, those clips helped shape his understanding of basketball greatness.<\/p>\n

\"OKC<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

OKC vs. Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton sets unfortunate Finals record in NBA history<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In particular, Williams paid close attention to how Pippen and Jordan moved without the ball, played lockdown defense, and dictated tempo without always filling up the box score. It\u2019s no coincidence that Williams\u2019 game reflects a similar all-around polish, one built on defensive instincts, playmaking ability, and unselfishness on offense. Even in a league now defined by pace and space, those fundamentals remain valuable\u2014and they\u2019ve helped him earn the respect of a legend.<\/p>\n

Pippen\u2019s endorsement feels like a full-circle moment. For Williams, being compared to Pippen is already a high honor. To receive that comparison directly from Pippen himself\u2014along with a suggestion that he could become even better\u2014is the kind of validation few players ever experience. It speaks not just to Williams\u2019 skill, but to his poise and maturity at such a young age.<\/p>\n

As the Thunder<\/a> continue their championship push, Williams is proving that he belongs on this stage. And if he continues on this trajectory, there may come a time when comparisons to Pippen are no longer about potential\u2014but about legacy. For now, the NBA world is watching closely, and so is one of its greatest small forwards of all time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottie Pippen is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history, and a pillar of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,6,179,3837],"class_list":{"0":"post-110965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","15":"tag-scottie-pippen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114713104728043349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}