Dennis Rodman’s antics are some of the most egregious ones but this one involving Charles Oakley might still leave people surprised.
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Charles Oakley was one of the toughest basketball players ever to go against. On or off the court many stars regretted whenever they picked up a fight with the 6’9, 250-pound forward.
Also known as “Oaktree” for his huge built and no-nonsense attitude, in his starting years in the NBA, Oakley used to play a protector role for Michael Jordan, to save him from getting roughed up on the court.
After spending his first three seasons with the Bulls averaging over 12 points, 12 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and a steal, he was traded to the New York Knicks. It was there where the power forward would form a core alongside Patrick Ewing, John Starks, and Mark Jackson to be one of the best teams in the NBA for the 90s decade.
While doing that the Knicks regularly faced the best team of that era, least arguably the best team of any era, the Chicago Bulls. Oakley’s former team had Horace Grant doing his job since he left, and then Dennis Rodman doing the same job when Grant left.
Oakley and Rodman had many on-court battles, but nothing beats this particular one, which took place off the court.
Charles Oakley grabbed Dennis Rodman and threw him out
On a recent episode of The Draymond Green Show, the Knicks legend recalled one of those Dennis Rodman’s off-the-court antics which generally used to leave players and people equally dumbfounded.
“7:20, the manager of the steakhouse called me, ‘Oh! Get here.’ I said, what’s going on? ‘You won’t believe what Dennis doing.’ I said, ‘what he doing?’ He said, ‘he eating off people’s plates,”
After leaving the Warriors forward in dismay with that story, the 1994 All-Star went on to explain how he dealt with the situation himself. Oakley says he grabbed the 4-time NBA champion by his collar and took him out of the steakhouse. And told him clearly,
“Don’t you ever come around me again in life!”
And Rodman surely follows the order of the Knicks enforcer to this day. Oakley has explained this story rather deeply in his book “The Last Enforcer” which came out earlier this week.
It has some of the most engaging stories from the 80s and 90s era, from the perspective of a player who has the courage to call Dennis Rodman “soft”.
