Scottie Pippen Announces Death of Son Antron at Age 33

Steve Helber/Associated Press

NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen announced on Monday that his son, Antron, died at the age of 33. 

Pippen released the following statement on Twitter:

Antron Pippen played college basketball at both Texas A&M International University and South Georgia Technical College. He also played for the World Basketball Association's Upstate Heat in 2013. In his statement, Pippen said he believed that Antron would have reached the NBA if he hadn't had chronic asthma.

"He's a late bloomer like me," Scottie Pippen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2006 regarding Antron's basketball game (h/t the Chicago Sun-Times). "He's probably better than I was as a high school player."

Antron Pippen was a highly regarded high school player in his own right and learned to accept the extra attention he received by being an NBA star's son.

"I'm used to the expectations," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2006. "When I was younger, it bothered me. I was trying to prove to people that I could play. I'm very proud of my father. But I can only be myself."

He was Pippen's only child with Karen McCollum. The two divorced in 1990.  

Fellow NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson was among those in the basketball world who shared condolences for Pippen and his family on Twitter:

The cause of Antron Pippen's death has not been released.