Dennis Rodman places Nikola Jokic above legend Larry Bird: ‘I think the kid from Denver is way better’ – Basketball Insiders

Dennis Rodman is at it again, after years of talking trash about his former opponent Larry Bird, he still finds reasons to diss the Celtics legend’s reputation. In a recent interview on “VladTV”, the former Bulls player was asked to compare modern-day stars with great players from the past. 

According to the five-time NBA champion, Bird wouldn’t even make it to today’s NBA, then claiming that he’d probably be competing somewhere abroad.

“If Larry Bird played in this era, I think he’d be in Europe. He’d be somewhere over there. His game was fit for Boston at that time, in the 80s. Today’s world, oh hell no. I’m not downplaying him cause he’s a great player at that time, as I was, but there’s no way,” Rodman said about the Boston icon.

Check out what the Chicago legend answered when he was asked who would win between a 1-on-1 between the former Celtics star and LeBron James:

Rodman then went on to say that even though Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is “slow as hell”, he is a much better player than Larry. “I think the kid from Denver is way better. Oh my god. He’s slow as hell. I think he’s better than Larry Bird. I mean, in this day and age, yeah,” the 62-year-old added.

The whole conversation started when the the “VladTV” host asked the Hall of Famer what was his thoughts on Gilbert Arenas’ claim that Bird would easily beat current Lakers star LeBron James is there were to face each other 1-on-1.

The Bulls icon first released a hilarious “What?” before saying that there’s no way Larry would beat the current athlete. This tells you just how poorly Rodman thinks of Bird as 10 years ago, the former Chicago player said on “The Dan Patrick Show” that James would merely average during his time as a player.

“If LeBron was playing in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he would be just an average player,” he said back in 2013.

Rodman also got in trouble in the past for saying Bird was overrated simply due to the fact that he’s white

Back in 1987, right when the Pistons were constantly dealing with the Celtic’s best years, a frustrated Dennis Rodman said something he still regrets to this day.

“He’s not God. He ain’t the best player in the NBA, not to me… He’s white,” the former Detroit player had told the press. “That’s the reason he gets it the MVP award. Nobody gives Magic Johnson credit. He deserved it last year, too. I don’t care. Go ahead and tell him. You’ll put it in the paper anyway.”

The Hall of Famer has addressed this statement many times in the past, but just recently gave a longer explanation to the context behind his poor remarks.

“Game 6 at Boston I made the most wrong decision that a person can make. At the time I didn’t know any better because I was so used to being in the projects, g*ddamn. … I was young and stupid, so after the game, I said If Larry Bird was black, he would be just an average basketball player,” he recalled back in 2022.