If you know anything about basketball beefs, you know that Shaquille O’Neal and Dennis Rodman have never really gotten along.
Apparently, that mutual dislike extended into the one season the two suited up together — and it was bad enough to stick out in O’Neal’s mind as the worst teammate experience he had in nearly two decades playing in the NBA.
“Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman. He was a great player, but he made it hard,” O’Neal said on “The Big Podcast with Shaq.”
This doesn’t appear to be a war of egos like the long-standing feud O’Neal had with Kobe Bryant. In this instance, Rodman’s behavior is what has earned him the dubious honor of being “the worst.”
“Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants,” O’Neal continued, via CBS Sports. “We had to be [in the building] an hour before the game. He’d come in fifteen minutes before the game, eating chicken and rice. While the coaches are talking, he would jump in the shower. Cold shower. Come and give you 15-20 rebounds.”
As previously mentioned, the disdain between O’Neal and Rodman began before the flamboyant power forward joined the Lakers for the 1998-99 season. The duo has had plenty of public run-ins over the years — enough that there is a YouTube compilation to prove it. It hasn’t dissipated over the years, either, as O’Neal also had some pretty harsh words for Rodman following the NBA 75th anniversary celebration.
Of course, Rodman has had plenty of vitriol of his own to spew. He has long complained about playing with O’Neal and Bryant and accused them of constantly whining about him. (Although, to be fair, is it really whining if your teammates think it’s unprofessional to jet off to Las Vegas in the middle of the season?)
Rodman played just 23 games for Los Angeles before being waived. He finished his tenure averaging 11.2 rebounds and having an even bigger enemy in Shaq than when he first got there.
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