CBS to Scottie Pippen -- You Can't Sue Us ... You ADMITTED You Were Broke!

Scottie Pippen has ADMITTED he was a walking financial disaster ... and has NO right to sue over reports that he was dead broke ... this according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ.

We broke the story ... Pippen smacked CBS, NBC, Arizona State University and others with a lawsuit last year ... claiming they all published stories that unfairly labelled him as a bankrupt ex-jock. Pippen wanted at least $1 MILLION from each outlet.

Now, CBS and NBC have filed new docs asking the judge to throw out the case ... claiming they felt comfortable publishing their stories because for years Pippen "was the focus of a steady drum beat of press coverage recounting his ongoing and, by his own account, increasingly dire financial circumstances."

In fact, the media outlets claim the former NBA star was quoted in a 2004 article about athletes with money problems ... saying, "You can wake up one day, and someone can decide to take everything you have."

NBC and CBS are adamant ... there was no malicious intent in reporting the bankruptcy stories ... and therefore they shouldn't have to pay Pippen a single cent.