Dennis Rodman found himself being kicked out of the San Antonio Spurs in 1995 after Gregg Popovich had had enough of his antics and bad-boy persona. Eager to ship him out of his team, Popovich launched a controversial trade deal in which Rodman was sent to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Will Perdue.
Former Bulls point guard John Paxson had just been appointed as one of Phil Jackson’s assistant coaches at the time. According to Paxson, the Rodman deal did not come to fruition right away.
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Pax admitted that they didn’t really want The Worm to join the team. However, the Zen Master thought long and hard about it and made the final decision.
“It wasn’t cut and dry,” Paxson said of Rodman’s trade to the Bulls. “It was really put in Phil’s hands, and whether or not he could coach Dennis. Phil took a day or two and really let it sink in, as that’s often how he made decisions. He came in and said he thought he could coach him.”
“We didn’t necessarily like Dennis as a player here in Chicago,” he added. “But circumstances can always change.”
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Rodman was the right player for the Bulls
Just as Paxson and the Bulls anticipated, Rodman caused some trouble on the court. In his debut season with the Bulls, Dennis already led the league in technical fouls with 35 and was ejected at least three times that year.
However, nobody could question the work and effort that Dennis put in every time he was on the floor. He dominated the boards and averaged 14.9 rebounds in 64 regular-season games.
Paxson credited Jackson for surprisingly managing to build a good working relationship with Rodman. Thanks to the Zen Master, the Bulls were able to bring out the best in the NBA bad boy.
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With Rodman on the team, the Bulls finished a franchise record of 72 wins and won their fourth NBA championship.
“Any time a player puts his team or the organization in a bad position, those are the situations that are difficult to deal with,” said Paxson. “But I do know—and I speak from the perspective as an assistant coach [in 1995-96] and radio announcer [1997-98]—that the players loved Dennis. And the off the court parties, they liked very much. He definitely provided entertainment for a lot of guys.”
“It was part of the package, and we knew going in that there was the potential for those things,” he added.
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What Michael and Scottie thought of Dennis
Like Paxson, the Bulls’ dynamic duo, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, also understood the risks of having Rodman on the team. At the same time, they also knew what a two-time champion like Dennis could do on the court.
Pippen once admitted that, as leaders, he and Jordan both agreed that they had to know how to make it work with Rodman, even in times when he would be more of a problem than a solution.
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“We were well aware of Dennis’ history, but we were not going to let it distract or deter us from what we were trying to do as a team,” Scottie wrote via Bulls.com. “We were open to him joining us, and we felt that if he was a distraction in any way, we had to have the flexibility to move on as a team and not look back.”
In hindsight, nobody from the Bulls organization regretted ever acquiring Rodman. If anything, they were glad to have benefited from the final years of The Worm’s athletic peak.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 14, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.