« My wife cheated on me with a teammate, so I took my gun and… »

One of the most whimsical and elusive characters in league history, Dennis Rodman has lived a bumpy life of ups and downs. Perhaps the most violent of these “lows” occurred one evening in the 1980s, when the Pistons player had just learned that his wife had cheated on him with a teammate. Narrative.

Everything is atypical with Dennis Rodman. His personality, his look, his contribution on the field, his stat sheets. First unwittingly, then later cultivating it, the kid from Trenton, New Jersey has always been different. This obviously did not prevent him from being a formidable player, 5 times NBA champion and double All-Star. But how difficult it was to manage his demons…

Dennis Rodman saved in extremis from suicide

In the late 1980s, as he became a « Bad Boys » Pistons kingpin, Rodman was saddened to learn that his wife had slept with one of his teammates. Always ultra-sensitive behind his shell, and plagued by emotions that he regularly struggled to control, the strong winger did not go there by 4 paths, as he told VladTV:

The story is known. I got in my car, took my revolver, and put the barrel in my mouth. Pearl Jam was playing on the radio, and I fell asleep. I think that’s what saved me. I suddenly fell asleep. When I woke up, it felt like the whole city of Detroit was around my car. They wanted to intern me. I am not crazy. A lot of people knew what I was going through.

In 2023, after such a situation, there is no doubt that the team would have isolated their player, and would have sent him to receive adequate treatment for his mental health. But in the Wild West of the 1980s? Move along, nothing to see ! Result, Rodman was on the floor the same evening, just after his suicide attempt, alongside the player who had slept with his wife:

Yes, my wife had slept with a teammate. But guess what? We managed to go beyond that (with the player, editor’s note), we talked about it a bit and it was this kind of situation where everyone was like: « Hey, we can’t do anything about it ». But hey, I had to play a match the same evening with him, and we won. We won !

Despite everything, the legendary Pistons coach, Chuck Daly, did not really appreciate the betrayal of the player in question with Rodman. So he acted, true to his principles:

I think Chuck Daly really felt sorry for me. So he kicked that player off the team.

The story is crazy, but it’s even crazier to think that Dennis Rodman has known other situations even crazier than this one. In any case, we can only thank heaven and Pearl Jam for having put the Hall of Famer to sleep before he committed the irreparable. The tragedy would have been immense…