{"id":517145,"date":"2026-01-05T01:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/517145\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T01:09:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:09:23","slug":"michael-jordan-admitted-he-had-no-plans-to-be-friends-with-dennis-rodman-i-dont-think-either-one-of-us-wants-to-make-that-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/517145\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan admitted he had no plans to be friends with Dennis Rodman: “I don’t think either one of us wants to make that approach”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many people were convinced that Dennis Rodman would ruin the Chicago Bulls<\/a> with his mere presence, especially after his tumultuous stint with the San Antonio Spurs, which featured tiffs with Gregg Popovich and David Robinson. Given his rivalry with the Bulls during his time with the Detroit Pistons, they feared how the locker room \u2014 most notably Michael Jordan<\/a> \u2014 would welcome the controversial forward.<\/p>\n

But Jordan himself didn\u2019t rush to judgment.<\/p>\n

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All business for MJ<\/p>\n

Jordan was well aware of Rodman<\/a>\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9. At that point, the latter already had two NBA championships, two Defensive Player of the Year trophies, four consecutive rebounding titles and six NBA All-Defensive First Team selections. So, even though he was skeptical about the fit, the Bulls legend was willing to give it a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really know his attitude, if his desire to win would be strong enough to accept the system that we have here,\u201d he said<\/a> in 1995, via the Los Angeles Times. \u201cHe\u2019s still got a lot to learn about the system, but his enthusiasm, his work ethic \u2014it\u2019s not surprising, but it\u2019s welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jordan acknowledged that Rodman could be difficult to rein in if he lost his temper or decided to antagonize referees. Still, he emphasized that it was too early to judge and preferred to see what Rodman brought to the court first. Any off-court issues, he noted, would be dealt with later.<\/p>\n

Related: New owner enrages neighbors with museum plans for Michael Jordan’s $9.5 million Highland Park mansion<\/a><\/p>\n

Dark past between Rodman and Jordan\u200b<\/p>\n

For years, Rodman tortured the Bulls \u2014 particularly Jordan \u2014 in the playoffs. The former Pistons<\/a> forward religiously followed coach Chuck Daly\u2019s \u201cJordan Rules,\u201d which, among other things, bluntly stated that he should throw the Bulls guard to the ground the moment he entered the paint.<\/p>\n

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Rodman also infamously fouled Scottie Pippen so hard that the small forward received six stitches in the jaw.<\/p>\n

Addressing Rodman’s history with the Bulls, MJ dismissed such concerns and insisted their relationship would remain purely professional. With the team\u2019s success as the priority, any personal animosity would have to be put aside for the benefit of the collective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we\u2019ve talked, but in terms of just sit down and iron things out? Nah. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cI mean, I think we respect each other as professionals. So we may not know each other from a personal standpoint. . . . I don\u2019t think either one of us wants to make that approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This decision paid off for Jordan and Rodman\u2019s chemistry. In their first season together, they helped the Bulls win a then-record 72 games. Michael won his fourth MVP award, while Dennis was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the seventh time. Chicago reestablished itself as the league\u2019s dominant force by winning the 1996 NBA championship.<\/p>\n

Over time, the two got to know each other better. Jordan admitted that their conversations mostly revolved around basketball<\/a> \u2014 and he was completely fine with it. But from time to time, things got personal, and he didn\u2019t mind lending his ear to Rodman.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, they\u2019re more about basketball than anything else because that\u2019s the one area of common ground we share,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cBut he has opened up a lot to me during the season, which I didn\u2019t necessarily expect, and I do like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What once seemed like an impossible pairing became one of the most effective partnerships in NBA history, resulting in two more NBA championships in the two seasons that followed. The two never became best friends, but they respected each other enough on the court to reach basketball immortality.<\/p>\n

Related: “When you have your own statue outside the stadium, you don’t come off the bench” – Steve Kerr questioned whether Michael Jordan would start in his 1995 return<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jan 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many people were convinced that Dennis Rodman would ruin the Chicago Bulls with his mere presence, especially after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[71787,7,329,3382,3251,188,3349,3864,935,6,3095,474],"class_list":["post-517145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-addressing-rodman","tag-basketball","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-david-robinson","tag-dennis-rodman","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-gregg-popovich","tag-jordan-rules","tag-michael-jordan","tag-nba","tag-nba-championships","tag-san-antonio-spurs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115839826211301093","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}