Video: Carmelo Anthony Rips Scottie Pippen Criticism of LeBron James, Michael Jordan

Carmelo Anthony clapped back at Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen for his stance on Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

Last week, during an appearance on the PDP Podcast (h/t SI.com's Matt Levine), Pippen expressed his belief that neither Jordan nor James belong in the conversation for greatest basketball of all time, choosing instead to give the title to Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson:

"You can't ask me who's the GOAT between LeBron and Michael. Neither one of them are GOATs. They both won differently. You can't put them at the top of the pinnacle. Magic Johnson to me is a bigger GOAT than anybody because of how he led, how he brought a whole team, how when the greatest scorer in the game, Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] was not there and him as a rookie steps in and plays a position that no one even knew he could play, that's transcending what you can do as a player."

On Friday, Melo offered a rebuttal on his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast (h/t FadeawayWorld.net's Vishwesha Kumar), saying:

"So, Scottie, come on, Scottie. Come on. Like, let's not do this, B. And you can't do this every time, though, Scottie. Like, you done been in the bunker with MJ. You done been in the trenches with this guy. You signed up for the breakfast club for six years.

"Like, you was part of that. Don't take that away from the guard now, after all these years, whatever feelings you feel about him. Like, that is who it is. That's MJ, like, you know what time it is with that."

Despite the fact that Pippen and Jordan were teammates in Chicago for 10 seasons and won six championships together, Pippen has often been outspoken in his criticism of Jordan in recent weeks.

That continued during last week's podcast appearance when he called Jordan "a very difficult person to deal with," and said Jordan would not have been able to win six titles without him.

Pippen played his last NBA season in 2003-04 when LeBron entered the league, so his perspective on James is as more of an outsider.

James, 40, continues to play at a high level during his 22nd season, and his status as one of the all-time greats is cemented since he is the NBA's all-time scoring leader, plus a 21-time All-Star, four-time NBA MVP, four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA Finals MVP.

Jordan is arguably the only player in NBA history who can match the totality of that résumé with six titles and six NBA Finals MVP Awards to his credit.

Anthony, who is close friends with James and his former teammate, also defended LeBron in the context of Pippen's GOAT opinion, saying:

"As far as LeBron goes, leave that man the f--k alone. Like, leave [him] alone, Scottie. Like, pay homage to Magic, but leave them alone. [They're] the GOATs of our league, man. Those are the three.

"So, whatever issues you have with Bron, like, leave that s--t alone, Scottie. Like, nobody's burning, even thinking about you. Like, as a matter of fact, this is a situation that Bron need to see Scottie. Like, enough is f--k enough. Not even square up. For me, you gotta have a real conversation. Like, what the f--k is going on?"

Per Kumar, Pippen expressed support for both Jordan and James as his GOAT in the past at various times, and Anthony took a shot at Pippen's penchant for flip-flopping:

"You can't keep MJ the GOAT this day, and LeBron is the GOAT better than MJ the next day. Oh, six years later, you know what? F--k both of them. Magic is the GOAT. Magic been the GOAT. You could pay homage and respect to [them] without putting one of them down.

"Like, you don't—that means you don't really f--k with MJ. Nah, you really don't f--*k with him. Say all that s--t for all them years. We know that was bulls--t. I really didn't f--k with MJ. It was just all business."

While the GOAT conversation is subjective and could yield several different and deserving answers, Pippen's ever-changing choice suggests it may have to do with something more than on-court performance for him.