NBA Star Scottie Pippen Is A Proud Father As Son Scotty Pippen Jr. Begins His NBA Journey

NBA legend Scottie Pippen is a proud dad. As his son Scotty Jr. is gearing up for his NBA debut, Scottie is all smiles. The 56-year-old NBA Hall of Famer is happily passing the torch to his son, 21, as he begins his journey in the NBA.

"I'm very proud of him. As a father, I can't continue to lead or guide him on the court," Scottie recently told PEOPLE. "At some point, I took my own wings and went and he will do the same."

In true proud father fashion, Scottie posted a photo on Instagram of his son signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in July that he captioned, "Officially a @lakers fan! Show em what you got, @spippenjr"

Many of Scottie's followers left messages of congratulations for his son following in his footsteps. "He’s looking real good out there, the vision on the passing is just like yours," "The kid can really play," "Congrats ! Another Pippen legend in the Making," "I just want to say congratulations this is so amazing Pip 🦾," as well as many others. The NBA legend also recently posted a photo of him with four of his kids.

Scotty Jr. is one of four kids along with his siblings, Preston, 20, Justin, 17, and Sophia, 13, for the NBA star with ex-wife Larsa Pippen. Scottie is also father to four other kids from other relationships.

Scottie was first drafted in 1987 by the Chicago Bulls, where he spent 12 seasons with the team. In his time there, he helped the team to win six championship titles. He then joined the Houston Rockets for one year before moving to the Portland Trail Blazers where he ended his NBA run in 2008.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was concerned about balancing parenting young children with his life as an NBA star because of all the traveling. "It was tough. I didn't want to do it at first," he said. Because Scotty Jr. was so young when his dad was in the NBA, he doesn't remember much of the NBA life. "I don't really remember too much of it because he retired when I was about five," Scotty Jr. said. "I remember going to the gym, the Bulls facilities and going to the games, but most of my memories of his career are based off watching his highlights on YouTube with my little brother." He does however remember how the fans looked up to his dad. "I'm just used to people always wanting pictures and autographs from him, so I've been around it my whole life," Scotty Jr. said.

Scotty Jr.'s love of the sport came early on, and his father always helped and supported him in his basketball journey. He played at Sierra Canyon High School in Los Angeles before attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and then went on to enter the draft. "I tried to talk him through it his whole life, just teaching him the game and making him feel like that's the path you're on," Scottie said. "You just teach him and hope for the blessing of God and a little luck and things falling in your way, but it's about preparing him for it and hoping and praying it happened."

Scotty Jr. was signed with the Lakers this summer as an un-drafted free agent on a two-way contract. He played in the team's G League summer squad where he averaged 11.8 points, 4.8 assists and 2.6 steals per game. And now he's ready for the NBA season to begin, even though it feels surreal. "It still hasn't hit me yet. Even when I go to the gym, it still feels like I'm just in college or high school," Scotty Jr. explained. "It doesn't feel like I'm really here, so I'm soaking it in day by day and still trying to get a feel for it." He continued by saying it's "a dream come true" for him. "It's one of the most historic franchises in the NBA, and being able to go to my hometown team, basically, is a dream come true," he explained.