“Why should I give $50,000 to NBA when I can give it to the Mormon community I offended”: When Bulls legend was fined for making unflattering comments towards Utah natives

Dennis Rodman was fined $50,000 by the NBA for making derogatory statements about the Mormon community during 1997 NBA Finals. 

During an interview with Kevin Hart, Dennis Rodman said something quite interesting. “You don’t pay me to be f**king nice.” ‘The Worm’ said this in regards to his situation with the San Antonio Spurs that revolved around him and GM, Gregg Popovich, not having a great relationship with one another. 

However, even past this part of his career, that one statement by Dennis Rodman sums up the entirety of his stay in the NBA. There’s a reason as to why Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson wanted to bring Rodman on board. Aside from his championship pedigree and on-court skills, his mental fortitude was on another level.

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Along with mental fortitude however, came a brash personality who said and did whatever came to his mind. This unfortunately came at a cost as by the time the 1997 season had ended, Dennis had racked up $82,500 in fines alone. 

Dennis Rodman was fined $50,000 for statements about the Mormon community. 

Before Michael Jordan would hit ‘The Shot’ over Bryon Russell in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, the Bulls won against the Utah Jazz a year prior in 6 games in the ‘97 Finals. During these Finals, Dennis Rodman found himself in a bit of a controversy when he said, “It’s hard to get in sync because of all the f**king Mormons out here giving me the finger.”

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This derogatory statement from Rodman fetched him a hefty fine from David Stern and the league that was to the tune of $50,000. This confused him as he believed that statement of his had nothing to do with the NBA and would much rather give that money to the Mormon community instead. 

Dennis would apologize several times over for his comments saying, “As far as religion, I have no business saying anything like that. If I knew it was a religion-type deal, I would have never said it.” 

Rodman’s agent, Dwight Manley, had a say in this as well, claiming, “Whether you like what he said or not, it’s an expression of freedom of speech. He wants to have an opinion. We’ll deal with it after the Playoffs.”