Pippen reveals NBL coaching interest

The arrival of Scottie Pippen at last night’s Throwdown brought worldwide eyes onto night one of the NBL, but if the Sydney Kings had their way, the Chicago Bulls legend would have been in Australia far sooner.

Pippen famously played a key role in each of Chicago’s six NBA titles through the 1990s alongside Michael Jordan, with the latter three also coming alongside Kings minority owner Luc Longley.

Longley had been involved with the Kings prior to his acquisition of a minority stake in the club, and Pippen has revealed his former teammate approached him for the Sydney head coaching job in 2021.

“We were very close, but I wasn’t too comfortable with how things were going with Covid,” the seven-time NBA All-Star told News Corp.

“We’re very close and he (Longley) is one of the few teammates I still stay in touch with.”

Longley has previously discussed the approach with ESPN, and believes despite a lack of head coaching experience, Pippen could have thrived in the role.

“It would have been a complex one,” Longley said. “He doesn’t have a lot of coaching experience but I do know what his basketball brain is like.

“He would have been good at capturing the imaginations of the group and leading them.”

The Kings eventually appointed Chase Buford as their new head coach following Adam Forde’s departure. 

Buford took the Kings to back-to-back titles before departing the club, and has now been replaced by Mahmoud Abdelfattah.

The Kings open their NBL24 season on Saturday against the Illawarra Hawks, like on ESPN via Kayo.