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Before all the media focused on their tumultuous divorce, Scottie and Larsa Pippen spent nearly two decades together, building a life. The two got married in 1997. They welcomed four children while dealing with the pressures and fame that come with being in the spotlight.
For years, Larsa was a constant presence throughout Scottie's playing career and into retirement, sacrificing much of her own ambitions and many more to raise their family. But after a slow unraveling of their marriage and multiple separation filings, the pair finalized their divorce in 2021, ending a 24-year marriage.
The well-publicized divorce sparked further controversy after it was reported that Larsa was awarded 50 percent of Scottie's retirement fund accumulated during the marriage.
While some criticized the settlement, arguing that 50 percent was too much, Scottie's former teammate on the Bulls, John Salley, never viewed it as controversial. In fact, he agreed with the amount given, with how much Larsa was there for the Chicago legend, and with the marriage contract the pair agreed upon.
"She was there," Salley said. "You got to understand what happens when you get married, when you go into this contract of marriage, because you have to go down and get a contract to get married."
Marriage is a contract
In an interview on VladTV, Salley explained that, aside from Larsa's commitment to the marriage, the settlement just proves how much the pair sacrificed the moment they married, citing the rules and agreements they had to make that may have been broken during their tumultuous time.
"When you go down to get your license, you have to pay attention to all the rules of the road. Pay attention, you can't cross the double line, there's so many rules that you got to go back and pay attention to when you get this license of marriage, and that's the way it is," stated Salley.
During Scottie's final years with the Bulls, his stints with the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, and the years after retirement, Larsa remained a constant supporter, by all accounts. Whether people agree with the settlement or not, courts generally recognize long-term marriages as partnerships in which spouses contribute in different ways.
Many fans assumed she had somehow taken assets that belonged exclusively to the Bulls legend, but in reality, retirement finances accumulated during a marriage are typically considered equal property and are divided between spouses in divorce proceedings.
Ultimately, despite the mess that came during the latter years of their marriage, Larsa deserved 50 percent as much as Scottie. And she herself admitted that the divorce took a huge toll on her mentally and financially.
Years after the divorce, however, Larsa has always expressed how much she sacrificed during her marriage with Scottie. Despite all the media backlash, she is building the life she always wanted, even having a brief relationship with Michael Jordan's son, Marcus Jordan.
"My hat off to her, I always liked from when he first introduced me to here, I always liked her. And I love MJ's son, so you know I'm happy for them that out of this whole fish bowl, they found themselves," he said.
