“I Hate Money”: When Dennis Rodman Purposely Lost $35K At Las Vegas To ‘Purge Himself’ Of ‘Everything That Had Meaning’ In His Life

Dennis Rodman was one of the most eccentric NBA players with some weird stories, including one where he lost $35K intentionally.

Rodman carved out an NBA career by becoming one of the best defensive players in the league. His toughness was unmatched, and even though he was a power forward who measured in at 6’7″, he led the league in rebound for seven straight years.

When the Bulls brought him on, they knew they were bringing in Rodman solely for those two traits. He was never going to become the third scorer behind Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen, but he was going to be the one locking everything down inside.

However, his eccentricies did make him a hard person to judge off-the-court, including a spill in Las Vegas when he took a huge money hit.

Also Read: ‘Larry Jordan Would Beat Me, Talk to Me and Not Let Me Forget About It’: How Michael Jordan Receiving Some Tough Love From His Brother Helped Him Become An NBA Legend

Dennis Rodman Blew $35K In Las Vegas And It’s Exactly What He Wanted To Do

Money is a powerful thing in today’s world. Who are we kidding actually, it’s always been a powerful tool, and some of the people who receive the most money in the world are athletes like Dennis Rodman.

Through his 13 seasons in the NBA, Rodman piled up an impressive-for-the-time $27 million. Oftentimes, that much money can make a person feel different from the rest of society, and it makes them question the significance of money in the first place.

Rodman was one of those people. In a Sports Illustrated story covered by Rick Talender in 1993, he describes how Rodman incurred a huge loss during one particular trip to Las Vegas.

Rodman is in Vegas. His money is on the table. Lots of it. The dice are ricocheting off the wall. Rodman has wagered on the losing line, crapped out again. The croupier harvests everything the Worm has left, all of it.

The 32-year-old basketball star, who once worked the night shift as a janitor at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, has made a symbolic act of penance, a cleansing of spirit that he feels will allow him to recapture, however fleetingly, the naivetè and the freedom of a former self that haunts him like a ghost. In a matter of days, he has lost all he came with, close to $35,000, which is what he wanted to do.

Talendar also elaborated a little further as Rodman said, “I hate money. I went to Las Vegas to lose. So I could feel normal.”

Talendar would also add on,

“And so after last season, he vanished from his world and reappeared at that holiest of American shrines, Las Vegas, to purge himself and to make amends,” the veteran scribe wrote. “‘I was getting rid of everything that had meaning in my life and starting over,’ [Rodman] says of his ritualistic gaming losses.”

At first, throwing away $35K seems stupid and weird, but when you hear Rodman’s reasoning behind it, the act becomes a little more understandable. We may never know how it feels like to deal with the kind of money athletes gain, but for people who go from nothing to everything, ending up with that much money can sometimes be overwhelming. It seems like that was the case for Rodman too.

Also Read: ‘I Just Couldn’t Fathom How Big He Was’: Even Michael Jordan Was Scared By Shaquille O’Neal’s Massive Frame