NBA stars re-unite in Australia

Friday, September 22, 2023

"He knows about the NBL, he’s familiar with it and there’s a growing awareness of it in America generally."

They played together in one of the most incredible sporting teams of all-time, and now Luc Longley and Scottie Pippen are set to re-unite in Australia.

The pair were stars of the Chicago Bulls’ second three-peat in 1996 to 1998, and remain great mates to this day.

Pippen is headed down under to launch the NBL24 season, sitting courtside for the season-opener, a sold-out clash between Melbourne United and the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

“I can’t wait to see Scottie Pippen down here,” Longley said.

“He’s been talking about coming down here for ten years.

“He knows about the NBL, he’s familiar with it and there’s a growing awareness of it in America generally, so it’ll be fun to have him to a game.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The NBL is bringing six-time NBA champion <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottiePippen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottiePippen</a> to Australia to launch our season.<br><br>Read more: <a href="https://t.co/8BmvSQD6mf">https://t.co/8BmvSQD6mf</a> <a href="https://t.co/RizYu5W9dB">pic.twitter.com/RizYu5W9dB</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1703967522649931904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pippen is a 7-time NBA All-Star, 3-time All-NBA first team member, 8-time NBA All-Defensive first team member and 2-time Olympic Gold Medal winner (1992 and 1996).

“He’s coming out to support us and back it [the NBL] … a little bit of an ambush on the AFL and NRL finals, so that’ll be good,” Longley added.

“I think the NBL’s got him a pretty full calendar … I think we’ve got some cruises to do and some games to go to. Fun finds Scotty, so we won’t have to look too hard.”

Pippen boasts an incredible record, with a 68.8 per cent win rate across close to 1,400 games.