After ESPN's "The Last Dance" documentary was released during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Jerry Krause , despite already being deceased, became one of the most criticized figures on the planet. Many believed that the Chicago Bulls dynasty still had another championship run in them if Krause had been smarter.
But every story has two sides, and on "The Vertical Podcast with Woj", the late Krause reflected on those moments and when his relationship with Phil Jackson began to fracture.
"The first time I ever saw him do that, it was a team against the manager. I knew what Phil was doing. There were certain things he needed and he got them that way. Phil was good with me, Phil was a good coach for me, and I never had a problem with him… The only time Phil and I ever had a problem was right near the end of our relationship. It revolved around some agent and contract things. It was mostly contractual," Krause said .
"It was most of what coaches could make and those kinds of things. It was never personal at all with Phil. I knew that Phil would leave a year before he left. He told me he was going to leave. He dedicated our playbook that year, they called it a 'last ride.' And that team was on its last ride," Krause added.
The documentary also highlighted how Scottie Pippen was unhappy with his salary, since in that final season, he was only the sixth-highest-paid player on the roster, while role players like Ron Harper and Luc Longley were earning more. Michael Jordan , of course, earned a staggering $33,140,000, more than half the teams in the league. One of those who certainly did not reap the full rewards of his work was Jackson.
According to Deseret News , the "Zen Master" had been a moderately paid coach from the start of his Bulls tenure, earning $866,000 per season during the 1995-96 season. Despite already being a four-time NBA champion at the time, Krause initially did not give Jackson the $3,000,000 raise he was asking for, as tensions rose.
As Jackson's frustration grew, a deal was reached in 1996: a one-year contract for $1,65 million, making him the third-highest-paid coach in the league. By then, however, their relationship had begun to slowly deteriorate. Krause was frustrated that only Jackson and Jordan were receiving recognition for the team's success, while he, behind the scenes, had built the championship roster around MJ from the ground up.
Although Phil eventually got his raise, according to Jerry, ahead of his final 1997-98 season, it was clear Phil would leave, regardless of whether the team won its sixth Larry O'Brien Trophy. Krause believes that Jackson quietly began turning the team against him.
However, as Chicago continued to win, most of the players felt they deserved a bigger salary. However, salary cap limitations and Michael's massive contract left Jerry with very little room to maneuver. Charles Barkley, who never won a title, partly because of the Chicago team Jerry built, didn't think that Jerry was the one to blame for the end of the Bulls dynasty .
"[Krause] didn't take that apart; anybody that thinks that is a fool," Barkley said of the Bulls dynasty. "That thing was all orchestrated by [Chicago chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf. The notion that that little man broke up the Bulls is asinine and absurd. If you go back and look at it and use common sense — just plain common sense — Jerry Reinsdorf broke up the Bulls because he didn't want to pay anybody."
Barkley's statement contains a great deal of truth. While Krause managed basketball operations and determined who deserved which contracts, ultimately, it was Reinsdorf who decided who got paid.
From the perspective that Krause brought in the eventual 11-time NBA champion Jacskon from Puerto Rico, first as an assistant, then as head coach, and built a team that dominated for nearly a decade, it is sad that their relationship ended the way it did.
Of course, Jackson deserved his money as he was ultimately the one who implemented the systems that made the team successful. But in moments when he began turning the team against the Bulls GM, he should have remembered that he would never have even been in a position to negotiate those big contracts if Krause hadn't brought him there in the first place.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 12, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
