Getty Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman pose for photos during the introduction of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.
If Chicago Bulls fans of the mid-to-late 1990s were asked to guess which of the team’s personalities would one day find themselves traveling abroad and engaging in discourse with foreign leaders, who would they have namechecked? MJ? The Zen Master? Toni Kukoc, perhaps?
While the responses undoubtedly would have been varied, it’s probably a safe bet that Dennis Rodman wouldn’t have won such a poll.
And yet, Rodman — who made headlines with his piercings, multicolored hair and wild antics on and off the court — went on to stop the presses years after his hoops career ended by becoming one of the first Americans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2013. He would return to North Korea on a number of occasions, too, with a stated desire to bring peace between the nation and the US.
More recently, Rodman has set his sights on Russia, where he hopes to help secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Rodman ‘Trying to Go’ to Russia ‘This Week’
The 61-year-old Rodman — a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team who won three titles with the Bulls (1996-98) and two more with the Detroit Pistons (1989 and 1990) — told NBC News that he has plans to go to Russia in a matter of days.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman said of Griner’s situation. “I’m trying to go this week.”
However, a senior White House official told NBC News that Rodman going to Russia, a country he has visited previously, could negatively impact the Biden Administration’s ongoing efforts to bring Griner home.
“It’s public information that the administration has made a significant offer to the Russians and anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder release efforts,” the official said.
Although the US State Department has issued a travel advisory discouraging Americans from traveling to Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine, Rodman doesn’t need any special permission from his government to go there.
Griner Was Sentenced to Nine Years Imprisonment
Griner — a prescribed medicinal cannabis user in Arizona — was first detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in February when Russia’s Federal Security Service found that she was carrying vape cartridges containing hash oil, which is illegal in the country.
The 31-year-old later admitted to having “made an honest mistake” in packing the cartridges while speaking in a Russian court, asserting that it had not been her intention to break any laws. Nevertheless, Griner was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to nine years imprisonment and fined one million rubles (approximately US$16,000).
Her sentence has since been appealed.
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