"Sounds like they did him dirty" - Fans react as Scottie Pippen's son Justin Pippen enters transfer portal amid Michigan's Sweet 16 run

Michigan guard Justin Pippen, the son of NBA legend Scottie Pippen, has had a limited role with the Wolverines this season, appearing mainly from the bench. He has missed the Wolverines' postseason run in the Big Ten Tournament and the 2025 NCAA Tournament as they've made a run to the Sweet 16 where they will face the No. 1 Auburn Tigers on Thursday.

On Monday evening, 247Sports analyst Travis Branham reported that Pippen had entered the transfer portal despite his team's ongoing season. The Wolverines guard missed game time earlier in the season with a leg injury and did not travel with the team during its postseason run due to being in concussion protocol.

College basketball fans on X had mixed reactions to Justin Pippen entering the transfer portal.

Some were not thrilled that the transfer portal was open with the season still ongoing and for Justin Pippen leaving at this time.

"Sad they have to do this when his teams still playing," one fan tweeted.

"Transfer portal shouldn't be active in-season/tournaments. That's wild..." Another fan tweeted.

"He not traveling wit them. Sounds like they did him dirty," one fan tweeted.

Dusty May complains about portal after Justin Pippen's decision

According to 247Sports, Justin Pippen was a four-star prospect in the recruiting class of 2024 and the No. 12 player in California, No. 13 guard and No. 105 overall player in the nation. He visited the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets before he committed to Michigan.

After his decision and during his weekly news conference before the Wolverines face the Auburn Tigers, Michigan coach Dusty May broke down the inconvenience of the transfer portal being open during March Madness.

"We have two staffers that are working almost exclusively on Auburn, and then we'll have a couple more that are splitting time between the next opponents and fielding calls and putting out feelers because you don't know what your roster is going to look like until the season is over," May said. "And so we have returners, we have a couple of guys signed, but there are obviously going to be a few holes that need to be filled.

Yeah, it's certainly a handicap for the teams that are winning. It's the same way in football, the teams that play. Because if you start adding players to your roster now, what does that do to the young guys who are working hard? So it's tough, but once again, if you could have a trade-off and there's always a trade-off, I would much rather be playing right now than portal recruiting.”

Pippen played 28 games for the Michigan Wolverines, averaging 1.6 points on 27.3% shooting from the floor and 26.7% shooting from beyond the arc, 0.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists this season.