Dennis Rodman Was Fined $20,000 For Skipping Bulls Practice And Flying To Detroit To Wrestle With Hulk Hogan During 1998 Finals: ‘Who Else Could It Be?’

After the Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals on June 7, Dennis Rodman skipped practice the next day to fly to Detroit and wrestle with Hulk Hogan. 

The Bulls fined Rodman $10,000 and the NBA fined him $10,000 as well.

During his media session, Chicago head coach Phil Jackson didn’t throw Rodman under the bus and the big man appreciated that. 

“I just think that Phil realized that I need to always do me,” Rodman said in The Last Dance documentary. “Just go do what I do. … They’re gonna get 100% when I’m on the court.”

Game 4 of the 1998 NBA Finals took place on June 10 and Rodman had a sensational game. He finished with six points and 14 rebounds while shooting 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. 

Scottie Pippen, who played three seasons with Rodman on the Bulls, wrote about Rodman’s theatrics in his book, “Unguarded.”

“First, he skipped a team meeting and a mandatory media session,” Pippen wrote. “The Bulls fined him $10,000 for missing the meeting. The league fined him the same amount for blowing off the media. Then he had the audacity to fly to Detroit to appear on a cable-TV wrestling show with Hulk Hogan … in the middle of the NBA Finals.

“Dennis was at practice the next day. In Game 4, which we won, 86-82, he finished with 14 rebounds and 6 points, including two critical free throws to give us a 4-point lead with 43.8 seconds left. That was Dennis Rodman in a nutshell. 

“One day, he acts like someone who should be committed. The next, he chases down every loose ball as if the future of mankind depended on it. Who were any of us to question the man’s, shall I say, eccentricities? Maybe Dennis needed those other outlets to be at his best on the basketball court.”

The Bulls defeated the Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals in six games for their sixth championship in franchise history. Michael Jordan won his sixth Finals MVP, Pippen won his sixth title and Rodman captured his fifth ring. 

After the 1997-98 season, Jordan retired from the NBA, the Bulls traded Pippen to the Houston Rockets in a sign-and-trade deal and Rodman signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

One of the best defenders in NBA history, Rodman won two Defensive Player of the Year Awards and made two All-Star teams, eight All-Defensive teams and two All-NBA teams. He won two championships with the Detroit Pistons and three with the Bulls. 

A Hall of Famer, Rodman averaged 7.3 points, 13.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.6 blocks with the Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Bulls, Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. He made the 75th Anniversary Team.