Former Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoc described what partying with Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman was like.
Few other NBA players — or indeed, athletes in general — have balanced the highest levels of success in their craft and enjoying their time away from it quite like Dennis Rodman. As a five-time champion, eight-time All-Defensive team selection, seven-time rebounding champ and Hall-of-Fame selection, Rodman was known for his tenacious defense, rebounding and toughness on the court.
Off the court, however, he was known for his partying and antics that were frequently labeled as a distraction, especially during his last three championship runs with the Chicago Bulls.
Toni Kukoc, the Bulls’ sixth man for that second three-peat in Chicago and a former teammate of Rodman’s, shed some additional light on what partying with one of the league’s notorious bad boys was like.
“It’s a special type of story, and I couldn’t keep up with him,” he told Svlacionica in a recently unearthed interview. “I partied only once with him because, after that, you need a 7-to-10 days recovery period afterward.”
Dennis Rodman was a machine on and off the court
Kukoc told a story about being in a bar with Rodman, and despite there only being four people there, “The Worm” ordered enough drinks for 20 people so the bar wouldn’t close.
“There were four of us out, and the first thing he ordered for a drink was 40 shots of vodka and 10 beers,” Kukoc said. “I asked him if there are more people coming, and he just said it’s important to keep the bar open. Everybody who was at the bar that night, he had free food and drinks on Rodman.”
As The Last Dance covered in full detail earlier this year, Rodman was almost superhuman when it came to his ability to party and then practice or even play in a full game the very next day. During the 1997-98 season, as the Bulls went for their second three-peat, he took a quick little vacation to Las Vegas in the middle of the season to clear his head and eventually had to be retrieved.
Rodman is a legend for many reasons, but what he achieved on the court with everything he had going on off the court makes his career even more unbelievable.