NBA star Scotty Pippen Jr. visited the Philippines for the first time and was glad to witness the big basketball culture in the country.
Pippen, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, is the son of six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.
The young NBA player visited the NBA Store in Mandaluyong City on Thursday and found it interesting that makeshift basketball courts are everywhere in the streets of Metro Manila.
“I would say just seeing little kids playing outside on the street when I was driving in and just being around my hotel, just seeing how the fans all knew me and just seeing how they had basketball on all the TVs,” he said.
“So I’ve definitely been able to see how big basketball here is in the Philippines,” he added.
The two-way guard also met Barangay Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson on Thursday in an event backed by the NBA, and learned that the former PBA Most Valuable Player was named after his father.
“Yeah, definitely cool. Cool dude. Super accomplished player, just hearing all the accolades he has is definitely surreal and crazy to see what he’s done here,” Pippen said.
“I think it’s also super crazy that he was named after my dad, and we’re both here years later. So I think it was super cool to meet someone like that.”
Pippen also recalled being teammates with former University of the Philippines gunner and Gilas Pilipinas mainstay Quentin Millora-Brown.
“Yeah, Quentin. Me and him played two years together. In my third year, he was a redshirt, but he was really a good dude. That’s my guy. Always a hard worker, a smart player, so he’s still my guy,” Pippen said.
They played together from 2020–2022, with Millora-Brown serving as a vital front-court presence, while Pippen led the scoring for the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Pippen and Millora-Brown reached the quarterfinals in the 2022 National Invitational Tournament.
Millora-Brown then took his talents to the Philippines and won a UAAP Season 87 title in 2024 with the Fighting Maroons.
The 6-foot-2 Pippen, meanwhile, tried to enter the NBA but was undrafted in 2022. He, however, carved his way through the G-League before finally signing a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies in January 2024.
He averaged 12.9 points and 4.7 assists across 21 games in the NBA.
