One of Michael Jordan’s most famous Chicago Bulls teammates has revealed that the five-time NBA MVP didn’t speak to him during their run of three successive titles together.
Regarded as arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan was drafted by the Bulls in 1984 and quickly became one of the biggest stars in the sport.
Team successes eluded the North Carolina native over the early part of his career, though, until his first NBA Championship finally arrived in the 1990/91 season.
Jordan and the Bulls then won basketball’s top title in the following two seasons, completing a so-called ‘three-peat’. Then, following the Nike-sponsored player’s brief retirement to try his hand at baseball, he returned to the NBA in 1995 and led the Bulls to a second three-peat between 1996 and 1998.
Dennis Rodman was already a two-time NBA champion, a four-time All-Star and a two-time Defensive Player of the Year when he joined the Bulls in 1995. The controversial star’s rebounding and defensive skills were key to the Chicago side’s second run of back-to-back-to-back titles.
Yet Rodman revealed in 2023 that Jordan “never had a conversation” with him or fellow All-NBA team-mate Scottie Pippen off the court.
“Well, I think it was important for me to go there and win,” Rodman said. “Me and Scottie, and Michael, never had a conversation in three years in Chicago.
“Only time we had a conversation is on the court. That was it. And nobody believes that.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were teammates at Chicago Bulls. (Image: Getty)
“Only people I had a conversation with was probably Jud Buechler, Randy Brown, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley and other players.
“But me, Michael, and Scottie, we never had a conversation off the court.”
Despite their frosty off-court relationship, Jordan and his top two teammates were imperious on the hardwood.
After their final triumph together in 1998, Jordan once again retired, while Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets and Rodman joined the Los Angeles Lakers, breaking up one of the most iconic teams in basketball history.