Countless athletes have competed in the NBA throughout the league’s illustrious history, but few are arguably as unique as Dennis Rodman. The hall of famer was known not only for his aggressive style of play but also his eccentric lifestyle off the court. Many of his former teammates and on-court rivals have opened up about playing against him and just getting to know him as a person. As you would expect, some of those tales are a bit wild. However, Shaquille O’Neal just told a story about Rodman not showering after playing basketball, and I can never unhear it.
Shaquille O’Neal and his The Big Podcast co-host Adam Lefkoe recently interviewed Allen Iverson during an episode of the show. During the installment, Shaq and AI laid out who’d be the perfect players of their era to join them in a starting five lineup. While doing so, O’Neal begrudgingly chose Dennis Rodman as the ideal power forward The self-proclaimed GOAT of athlete-rappers, who played with Rodman briefly as a Los Angeles Laker, then proceeded to tell his wild story about his old teammate’s supposed hygiene habits:
This dude would come in – the [team] meeting’s at 5:30, you gotta be there at 5:30. … He’ll come in there with forty minutes on the clock, eating chicken and rice, not paying attention. During the middle of the meeting, [he’d] take a cold shower, not paying attention. We go out first [in the game], then he’ll come out, give you 25 rebounds, stinking like a [expletive]. [He’d] put his clothes on and go to the club and have the baddest women I’ve ever seen in his life surrounding him, kissing him.
Well, if this is all true and I wouldn’t expect Shaquille O’Neal to lie), that all sounds… unsanitary. I mean, seriously, the notion of someone playing a tough game, not hitting the shower afterward and living it up with the ladies is foul (no basketball pun intended). The sense of disgust in O’Neal’s voice – which you can hear by watching the YouTube clip – is definitely apparent. And, when asked by Adam Lefkoe whether he slightly shaded “The Worm” due to his luck with the ladies, Shaq made his disdain clear:
This motherfucker stank – he smell like garbage truck water, and he got models on him at the club. I was a party guy, I’d throw some parties. But I ain’t never seen what I seen with Dennis Rodman.
Seriously, some of the stories that have been told about the heavily tattooed and pierced Dennis Rodman are legendary at this point. Some of them were even documented in The Last Dance docuseries (which can be streamed with a Netflix subscription). One of the most infamous tales may be Rodman’s 48-hour trip to Las Vegas – which he took during the 1998 NBA Finals! As his former wife – the seemingly ageless Carmen Electra – explained in the doc, Rodman’s former Chicago Bulls teammate, Michael Jordan, had to come and scoop him up.
The former Defensive Player of the Year was (and remains) eccentric, though he could definitely play basketball, which is why he has five NBA championship rings to his name. It’s also interesting to hear him talk about his own experiences and weigh in on basketball related matters. In just the past few years, I’ve enjoyed hearing him talk about the differences between Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who heaped particular praise on. “Dennis the Menace” also opined not long after that Pippen and Jordan would squash their beef, which has been ongoing for several years now.
I’m not sure if I’m actually better for knowing that a shower apparently wasn’t part of Dennis Rodman’s typical postgame routine. Nevertheless, it does serve as another surprising detail about someone who can be considered one of the most entertaining figures in all of sports. Now, I’d love for Rodman and Shaquille O’Neal to have a one-on-one chat, and I’m really hoping that happens.