Dennis Rodman

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Lore & Background

Rodman earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships. On April 1, 2011, the Pistons retired Rodman's No. 10 jersey, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later that year. In October 2021, Rodman was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Rodman experienced an unhappy childhood and was often described as shy and introverted in his early years. After contemplating suicide in 1993, he reinvented himself as a 'bad boy' and became notorious for numerous controversial antics. He repeatedly dyed his hair in artificial colors, had many piercings and tattoos, and regularly disrupted games by clashing with opposing players and officials. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his 1996 autobiography Bad as I Wanna Be. Rodman also attracted international attention for his visits to North Korea and his subsequent befriending of the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un in 2013.

In Their Own Story

The Staples Center air crackled with the electric tension of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. While Shaq carved up the paint, the Lakers needed every scrap of grit they could squeeze from the bench. Dennis Rodman sat on the sideline, his hair a shocking shade of deep purple, eyes locked on the clock as his legendary knees screamed in protest. When Phil Jackson finally barked, "Rodman!" the arena seemed to hold its breath. The veteran rose, shaking off the weight of thirty years and jogged onto the hardwood, high-fiving Kobe with a manic grin before nodding at Shaq. For those fleeting minutes, he was back: diving for loose balls that looked like they'd already hit the floor, boxing out giants twice his age with a ferocity that defied physics, and screaming with an intensity that unsettled opponents.

Reader's Guide

In addition to being a former professional basketball player, Rodman has appeared in professional wrestling. He was a member of the nWo and fought alongside Hulk Hogan in the main event of two Bash at the Beach pay-per-views. In professional wrestling, Rodman was the first-ever winner of the Celebrity Championship Wrestling tournament. He had his own TV show, The Rodman World Tour, and had starring roles in the action films Double Team (1997) and Simon Sez (1999). He appeared in several reality TV series and was the winner of the $222,000 main prize of the 2004 edition of Celebrity Mole.

Did You Know?

• Rodman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.
• His mother gave him the nickname 'The Worm' for how he wiggles while playing pinball.
• He worked as an overnight janitor at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport after high school.
• Rodman was a three-time NAIA All-American at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
• He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons as the 27th overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft.