Trade rumors involving Pippen escalated during the 1994 off-season. Jerry Krause, the Bulls' general manager, was reportedly looking to ship Pippen off to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for all-star forward Shawn Kemp, moving Toni Kukoč into Pippen's position as starting small forward with Kemp filling in the vacant starting power forward position in place of Horace Grant, a free agent who left the Bulls for the up-and-coming Orlando Magic during the off-season. In January, when asked by the late Craig Sager as to whether he thought that he would be traded, Pippen replied, "I hope I am". However, Pippen would remain a Bull and those rumors were put to rest once it was announced that Michael Jordan would be returning to the Bulls, late in the season. Badly lacking interior defense and rebounding due to Grant's departure, the Pippen-led Bulls did not play as well in the season as they had in the season before. In fact, for the first time in years, they were in danger of missing the playoffs. The Bulls were just 34–31, prior to Jordan's return for the final 17 games, and Jordan led them to a 13–4 record to close the regular season. Still, Pippen finished the season leading the Bulls in every major statistical category—points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks—joining Dave Cowens () as the only players in NBA history to accomplish the feat; Kevin Garnett (), LeBron James (), and Giannis Antetokounmpo () have since matched it.