2. Dennis “The Worm” Rodman – 1998-99 season
With his blonde hair, multitude of body piercings and tattoos, the sight of Dennis Rodman in any NBA jersey is odd; in the prestigious Lakers jersey it’s freakishly bizarre.
Rodman had come off winning an NBA championship with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls before being waived just prior to the start of the lock out shortened 1998-1999 NBA season. Rodman at age 37 was still a rebounding machine and good defensive player which piqued the interest of the Lakers who were trying to finally get over the top and reach the level of a championship team with a young Shaq and even younger Kobe Bryant.
Having just fired Del Harris 12 games into the season after a slow 6-6 start, the Lakers hoping for a spark signed Rodman and got an immediate return. The Lakers went on an 11 game winning streak behind Rodman’s rebounding prowess. The fire fizzled out quickly as they went on to go 6-6 in the next 12 games and Rodman’s erratic behavior began to wear thin on the Lakers coaching staff led by interim head coach, Kurt Rambis.
The Rodman experiment lasted 21 days before the Lakers had enough of his antics and waived him after an incident where he came late to practice and had trouble finding his shoes and socks. Rodman’s short stint, kooky personality and odd behavior with the Lakers makes him 2nd on our list of Lakers that we can’t believe were Lakers.