Scottie Pippen's brief stint with the Houston Rockets is over, just eight months after it began. In a six-for-one deal, Pippen will be traded Saturday to the Portland Trail Blazers, The Associated Press learned.
The deal, first reported earlier this week by media outlets in Houston and Portland, will send the disgruntled Pippen to Portland for Kelvin Cato, Stacey Augmon, Walt Williams, Ed Gray, Brian Shaw and Carlos Rogers.
It's a mixed blessing for Pippen, who wanted out of Houston but would have preferred to go to the Lakers so he could be reunited with Phil Jackson, his coach in Chicago when Pippen and the Bulls won six championships.
KRIV-TV in Houston reported Friday night the deal is imminent, and two league officials, speaking on condition they not be identified, told the AP the deal will be done Saturday.
It comes just days after Pippen went public with negative remarks about the Rockets and his teammate in Houston, Charles Barkley.
The Rockets could not be reached for comment, and a Blazers spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of an impending trade. Pippen's agent, Jimmy Sexton, could not immediately be reached.
The Oregonian reports:
"The bar has officially been set high. Dizzyingly high. At Air Jordan levels. It has been set by one of the most celebrated players in NBA history, someone who enjoyed peak success, a league-record 72-10 regular season in 1995-96 and six championships alongside Michael Jordan. Scottie Pippen arrived in Portland on Monday and basically said the sky is the limit for his new team. "I've never been on a team, other than the Dream Team or the All-Star team, where (every) player demands so much attention," Pippen said on the eve of the opening of the Trail Blazers' training camp. "It's pretty scary. This team is very talented and very deep, and they had a great chance of winning (the championship) even without Scottie Pippen. "
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