Think about it: The NBA player that drove everyone else nuts couldn’t deal with this feud!
Thinks about how funny this statement is to ponder. Dennis “The Worm” Rodman, who was known to drive NBA teams (Including the one he was on at the time!) crazy could not deal with the feud between Kobe and Shaq.
Yes, that Dennis Rodman.
After the Bulls blew up the championship dynasty and released Rodman in January of 1999, the Lakers signed him for the pro-rated salary for the rest of the season. That amounted to about 23 games. But there was a ten-game stretch that drove Rodman nuts.
This is the guy that filled up the Lakers rumors sheets with these antics.
- Lakers rumors #1: Dennis Rodman reportedly held the Lakers up for three weeks before signing his contract.
- Lakers rumors #2: That irritated Magic Johnson, who owned a piece of the Lakers at the time.
- Lakers rumors #3: It was rumored that the late, great Dr. Jerry Buss, took Rodman to Las Vegas to gamble.
- Lakers rumors #4: Dennis Rodman left the team for two weeks spanning about four games. He was paid during his absence, but was fined $100 dollars a day.
- Lakers rumors #5: Oh, by the way, he was married to Carmen Electra.
But this feud drove Dennis Rodman crazy? CBS Sports‘ James Herbert at least has some evidence of Rodman’s frustrations.
"“So I start playing, right, we won 10 games in a row,” Rodman said. “Ten games in a row when I got there, right? I said, ‘Jerry, I gotta take a break.’ One reason: Shaq and Kobe. I couldn’t deal with those [expletives]. I’m not going to lie to you: I couldn’t deal with them. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not used to this,’ right? I’m used to winning, but I can’t deal with these [expletives expletive-ing] every [expletive] game. Like, [expletive]. I mean, every, I’m like, [expletive], we’re winning, what? So I go and I say … ‘I’m so used to having calm and serenity and stuff like that.’”"
Okay, we know he could go on the Maury Povich show and fail the lie detector test. Everyone that has watched an NBA game that he participated in can see that’s a lie.
However, this story does show how credible Rider’s story could be. By the way, who is Isaiah Rider. Believe it or not, he was a bad boy back in the day.