When you play in the NBA as long as Shaquille O’Neal did, you are bound to have come across some teammates that you didn’t get along with. While everyone is a professional, guys don’t always mesh together for whatever the reason may be.
O’Neal played in the NBA for 20 seasons and six different franchises. Along the way, he had some negative interactions with teammates, with the butting of heads against Kobe Bryant being the most famous one. While they found admiration for each other later on in their careers and O’Neal eventually became one of Bryant’s biggest advocates, there is also regret about how they handled things as young superstars.
Alas, Bryant wasn’t the worst teammate that O’Neal ever had. During a recent episode of The Big Podcast With Shaq, he revealed which player was. To the surprise of some, O’Neal named Dennis Rodman as the worst teammate that he had.
“Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman,” O’Neal said. “He was a great player, but he made it hard. Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants. So we had to be there 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.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Shaquille O’Neal, Dennis Rodman & Los Angeles Lakers Updates
Rodman and O’Neal shared the court as teammates for only one season during the 1998-99 campaign. Rodman was just coming off helping the Chicago Bulls three-peat as NBA Champions and the Lakers were hoping that he would bring some of the same impact to Los Angeles. Unfortunately for the purple and gold, it wasn’t in the cards.
Rodman played in only 23 games, averaging 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 points per game. It was his lowest rebounds per game mark since the 1989-90 season with the Detroit Pistons, which was his fourth in the NBA. It also snapped his seven-season streak of leading the league in rebounding.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Shaquille O’Neal, Dennis Rodman & Los Angeles Lakers Updates
After one forgetful season with Los Angeles, Rodman played in 12 games with the Dallas Mavericks the following season before calling it a career and retiring. While O’Neal doesn’t have the fondest memories of Rodman, there are a lot of people who played with him previously in his career who would say the opposite as well.
