Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins with the great Julius Erving. (Photo by John Bazemore-Pool/Getty Images)

Dominique Wilkins doesn’t understand why Scottie Pippen is upset at Michael Jordan after all the winning that occurred in Chicago.

The NBA All-Star weekend was a rousing success. Steph Curry stole the on-court show. Michael Jordan challenging Magic Johnson to a one-on-one game was a behind-the-scenes highlight.

There was also Isiah Thomas playing the role of friend ambassador “introducing” Dominique Wilkins to Dennis Rodman.

Atlanta and Detroit do not have as storied a rivalry as the Pistons versus the Bulls and or Celtics, but the two did meet in the playoffs in 1986, 1987 and 1991 along with six regular-season intense battles each year.

The Pistons won two out the three playoff series with Atlanta coming out on top in 1986 in four games. There was no love lost between Wilkins and Rodman with a side of Bill Laimbeer.

Wilkins was finally named one of the NBA’s top 75 players after stunningly being left off the original top 50 in a horrible decision. Wilkins led the NBA in scoring1986 and he averaged over 24 points-per-game in 12 straight seasons.

But Wilkins never had a teammate on his level or better to play with, so he never made it to the Conference Finals much less win an NBA championship. His best teammates with Atlanta were hard-nosed Doc Rivers, Kevin Willis and a past-his-prime Moses Malone.

Then there is Scottie Pippen, who owns six NBA championship rings having the benefit of playing with Michael Jordan. Pippen did not have the scoring talent of Wilkins. The most he averaged in a season even when Jordan was “retired” was 22 points-per-game.

Pippen was noticeably absent from the NBA’s 75th-anniversary celebration. The Hall of Famer who had the time to write a book trashing the greatest player of all time did not have the time to make it Cleveland. Twenty-three years past their last championship together, Pippen is still angry at Jordan because he wasn’t given enough credit for his role despite Jordan saying “every championship I ever won you saw Scottie Pippen” in his teary-eyed Hall of Fame speech.

Wilkins like many of the other players from the 80s and 90s, doesn’t understand why Pippen is still holding a bitter grudge.

“It’s puzzling and I don’t understand why,” Dominique Wilkins told FanSided’s Da Windy City podcast. “When you win seven [6] championships all that personal stuff goes out the window. Anytime you can win the way they won as consistently as they won six championships in seven [8] years, what are you complaining about?”

Much of Pippen’s upset seems to stem from money. He complained in his book Unguarded that Jordan made $10 million from The Last Dance Documentary while he did not receive anything. Pippen did however make more in his NBA career on the court than Jordan.

For argument’s sake, what would have happened if Pippen and Wilkins had switched places? Do  young Dominque and  young Jordan combine their scoring talents to tear up the league and win a championship? It took Pippen four years in the league to become a reliable enough scorer to take  pressure off of Jordan. Wilkins would have done it immediately.

Wilkins is certain of one thing when it comes to Pippen and the Bulls dynasty.

“Do you win it without Mike? There is no way, you don’t win without Mike,” Wilkins said. “I don’t care what you think people may think you played with one of the top three or four players to ever play this game. I just don’t understand the problem.”

At the same time, Wilkins is not trying to take anything away from Pippen’s career.

“I respect Scottie he was a helluva player,” Wilkins said. “But sometimes in life man there are certain things you have to let go, just gotta let go and live life cause now we are not competitors anymore. You don’t want to break and screw those relationships up.”

You can even give Dennis Rodman a hug when you get “introduced” and smile about it.

Dominique Wilkins has partnered with Hennessy, and their latest luxury item to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the NBA. To celebrate each member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, Hennessy has crafted luxury trunks, complete with collector’s bottles of Hennessy VS, V.S.O.P and X.O and engraved with each recipient’s name. 

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