“Happy Birthday, Kim Jong-Un!”: When Dennis Rodman Oversaw North Korean Supreme Leader’s 30th Birthday With a Basketball Exhibition Game

Dennis Rodman once organized and took part in a basketball game celebrating North Korean supremo Kim Jong Un’s 30th birthday.

Dennis Rodman is a man after his own heart. He was probably the first NBA player to unabashedly embrace an unconventional, hippie look while dominating on the court.

Having started out in the league as an aloof persona, Rodman didn’t take long to make his mark on the court. His defensive prowess was such that the Pistons traded 2-time scoring champion Adrian Dantley to give him more minutes.

This strategy paid off as the Pistons made it to 3 consecutive NBA Finals series from 1988 to 1990. While the first of these ended in bleak fashion as the Lakers took the championship despite Isiah Thomas’ heroics in Game 6, the Pistons sealed back-to-back wins in the years that followed.

Rodman’s star fell for a bit during his 2-year tenure with the San Antonio Spurs. Though he still paced the league in rebounding, he fell out with the Spurs’ front office.

Also Read – Dennis Rodman, Who Almost Died in Las Vegas, Once Played “Vodka Games” with Kim Jong-Un Involving 50 Bottles

Gregg Popovich would never forgive him for his falling work ethic in San Antonio, which was one of the reasons for their Western Conference Finals loss to the Houston Rockets in the 94-95 season.

However, following a trade to the Bulls in the 1995 offseason, Rodman redeemed his status. He was probably the Bulls’ best player in the 1996 NBA Finals, though Michael Jordan took home the MVP honors.

2 more seasons and 2 more titles later, Dennis Rodman became a permanent fixture in the annals of NBA history.

Dennis Rodman wished Kim Jong-Un a happy birthday and played in an exhibition game on his 30th birthday

Kim Jong-Un took power in North Korea after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011. Now 38 years old, Kim was a 14-year-old when the 97-98 Chicago Bulls completed a second threepeat.

It transpired later on in his life that Jong-Un was a really big fanatic of the Chicago Bulls. While he obviously admired Michael Jordan, as everybody on the planet did, Kim also had a soft corner for The Worm.

This led to the US government banking on Rodman as a diplomat in times when they needed to negotiate with the fledgling nuclear power. Dennis Rodman grew closer to Kim Jong-Un as a result. He has made several trips to North Korea over the years.

One of those trips was in January 2014. This was when Kim invited Rodman to play an exhibition game with other retired NBA players on his 30th birthday. At the event, Rodman led the birthday cheers for the Supreme Leader.

North Korean state media later stated that the team of North Koreans beat the American team 47-39 in that particular game, which was probably a delight for Kim Jong-Un.

The relationship between Kim and Rodman

Kim Jong-Un invited The Worm to Pyongyang for the first time in the year 2013. Rodman traveled to North Korea with 3 members of the Harlem Globetrotters and journalists from Vice News.

The meeting seems to have gone well, as the US Government deployed Rodman further in such diplomatic missions with North Korea. One of the most eye-catching of those instances was in 2017 when Rodman gifted North Korea’s Sports Minister a Donald Trump book.

Also Read – “Dennis Rodman Got $200,000 to Visit North Korea”: 4x NBA Champ Said ‘No’ to the Far East Trip as He Was Offered a Mere $25,000