Dennis Rodman wasn’t a loveable character. In fact, his nasty comments and eccentric personality would often tarnish his relationship with his colleagues. Larry Bird was one of the many players who weren’t too fond of Rodman. On several occasions in the postseason, Bird’s Boston Celtics would defeat Rodman and the Isiah Thomas-led Bad Boys Pistons. Even though “The Worm” has failed to emerge victorious against Bird on numerous instances, the Chicago Bulls legend went on to ridicule the latter with his recent LeBron James-Larry Bird take. Analysts and enthusiasts from around the world berated Dennis the Menace for his horrendous opinion. And so, after having been subjected to so much flack, Rodman now clears the air, displaying his ‘love’ towards the Boston icon, in front of his 2,500,000 Instagram followers.
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The Worm believed that Bird wouldn’t even be in the NBA today. Rather, he’d be playing in Europe, in the current era. Rodman even continued his absurd take by stating that Nikola Jokic was better than the Celtics legend.
Avid basketball fans couldn’t help but rip apart the 62-year-old for mocking Larry Bird. And finally, Dennis displayed some admiration for Larry, after being called out by millions from around the world.
Dennis Rodman wears a Larry Bird jersey
Rodman found himself to be the butt of all jokes following his impractical take on Bird. Twitter users couldn’t stop trolling the Hall-Of-Famer. Have a look at what Action 247, Frank Are, and Betting Pros tweeted.
Analysts like Chris Broussard and Chris Russo also called out the former 6-foot-7 star Forward on national television.
Rodman has been subjected to hate his entire career. As arrogant as he was, he never admitted his mistakes, let alone apologise for them. However, that didn’t seem to be the case this time around. Taking to Instagram, Rodman posted a photo wearing Bird’s jersey and captioned it “All love Larry”. Have a look at NBA Celeb Update’s tweet:
Even though he hasn’t publicly apologized or taken his comments back, Rodman has shown a lot of maturity by expressing his respect toward his fellow NBA legend.
Rodman underestimated Bird before their first-ever matchup
As a rookie, Rodman underestimated Bird’s abilities. The Pistons rookie didn’t pay enough credit to Larry despite the latter being a three-time Champion. However, after their first matchup, Rodman learned that Bird wasn’t just some other “white guy in the NBA“.
In an interview with Basketball Time Machine, Rodman then revealed how Bird would get the better of him in every single battle of theirs.
“I tried my best to guard Larry Bird, and it didn’t work too well. He kind of schooled me the whole game. Every game we played, he said ‘Dennis are you guarding me? Take that for you’. And I was like, ‘Okay, I will take that, Larry’. He made a jump shot and said ‘Dennis do you like that?’ I said, ‘Man, to hell with you’.”
It seems surprising that Dennis would undermine Larry’s potential in today’s generation despite all the battles they’ve had. A 6-foot-9 Forward who could shoot better than most in the history of the sport? If anything, Bird would be one of the best players in the league today.
