There was a distinct possibility that the Seattle Super Sonics could have dominated basketball in the 1990s instead of the Chicago Bulls.
After reaching the conference finals in 1987, the SuperSonics were trending towards an NBA championship, with their project on track.
Jordan and Pippen went on to win six NBA championships togetherCredit: GETTY
However, that destined fate would collapse when they made the error of trading Scottie Pippen to the Chicago Bulls.
The franchise failed to recognise the potential of Pippen, a young forward who came out of the low basketball prestige University of Central Arkansas.
Pippen went on to join the Chicago Bulls and be part of a franchise that won six NBA championships in the 1990s, including two three-peats at each end of the decade.
Years later, Pippen’s former Sonics teammate Gary Payton has admitted he is confident that a trio of him, Shawn Kemp and the future Bulls star would have won multiple championships..
“Michael Jordan would have had problems; you know what I am saying. Shawn would have come in 1989, two years later, I would have come three years later, in 1990,” Payton said.
“That would have been a great crew. I think Scottie would have put up another dynamic team together with us, and we would have been cool.”
Payton is arguably justified in what he says, with the 1991-1992 season a demonstration of what could have been, had Pippen stayed in Seattle.
The SuperSonics posted the ninth-best offensive rating that year, with Payton averaging just 9.4 points as he was still developing as a scorer.
Meanwhile, Pippen by 1992 was already a First-Team All-NBA and All-Defensive star, averaging 21 points, 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.
Therefore, it is very conceivable that had he been on the Sonics roster, they would have got past the Utah Jazz in the second round of the playoffs.
They are regarded as one of sport’s greatest partnershipsCredit: getty
Payton was desperate to dominate with the Sonics, but instead it would be JordanCredit: GETTY
The Bulls won six NBA championships with Jordan in the leadCredit: GETTY
Especially when considering their losses came by just an average of 6.6 points.
Pippen would have also been useful in Seattle’s 1993 Western Conference Finals loss to the Phoenix Suns, too.
At that point, they had no answer for Charles Barkley with the Suns star dominating the glass, as he posted game-high rebounds in every Phoenix win.
Barkley capped out his stellar series performance with a 44-point and 24-rebound double-double in the deciding game.
Although the biggest Pippen dagger would be in the 1996 NBA finals when the Bulls faced the Sonics.
Chicago won the series 4-2, initially racing to a 3-0 lead, but a late comeback in the series would be halted by Pippen himself, who put up 17 points in a great performance to win the title.
Who knows what would have happened had Pippen stayed at the Sonics?
It would have been a formidable task to stop Jordan and the Bulls anyway
Although given how crucial Pippen was to the Bulls’ six championships, it’s more than likely the Sonics would have picked up a ring at some point had he stayed.