Dennis Rodman, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump: the adventures of an accidental ambassador
- Chicago Bulls veteran back in Netflix’s The Last Dance but no mention made of trips to ‘friend for life’ Kim Jong-un
- The Apprentice star was ‘top three for Nobel Peace Prize’ before later backing Donald Trump to win
It is said that there are only two men in the world who have met both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. One of these two also has five NBA championship rings.
That is Dennis Rodman, the self-styled “bad boy” of the late ’80s and early ’90s basketball scene for the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons. The other is South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, who has no basketball career to speak of.
Rodman is back in the spotlight as a key figure in the ESPN-Netflix documentary The Last Dance, which focuses on the chase for his fifth, and the Michael Jordan-led franchise’s sixth, NBA crown in 1997-98.
Episode three of the 10-part documentary introduces the rebounder extraordinaire and his infamous individualism, with coach Phil Jackson describing Rodman as “different”.
Playing third man to Trump and Kim, just as he did to Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the Bulls, was just the latest extraordinary episode in Rodman’s life, which already included dating Madonna and heading off to Las Vegas midseason for a “vacation”.
While the 6’8” former basketballer knows Trump from their time on “The Apprentice” – where Trump sacked Rodman for spelling his wife Melania’s name wrong – it was his ’90s sporting heyday that first brought him to the attention of the North Korean leader.