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Bloomfield Hills (AP) - There was no NBA player like Dennis Rodman before or after him.
The extraordinary superstar of the 90s, who played alongside Michael Jordan for the Chicago Bulls, will turn 60 on May 13th.
A look back in pictures.
THE SUCCESS
Dennis Rodman won the NBA title five times - two times with the Detroit Pistons and three of them in a row with the legendary Chicago Bulls team led by Jordan, Scottie Pippen and himself. Rodman was seven times the best rebounder in the strongest basketball league in the world, has been voted best defensive player twice and made it to the All-Star team twice.
His unconditional commitment with jumps into the audience was a trademark of Rodman.
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THE OPTICS
Colorful hair, piercings, tattoos, wild outfits in the most impossible combinations - sometimes a white wedding dress for the book presentation of his autobiography: Rodman was the eye-catcher and often the excitement of the NBA from his season at the San Antonio Spurs 1993/1994 at the latest.
Even when he started out with the Detroit Pistons, he had the image of a shy big boy who just loves playing basketball.
THE PRIVATE
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The marriage to Carmen Electra lasted about half a year - and was not even the shortest in Rodman's life.
He was married to Annie Bakers, the mother of his first daughter, for 82 days.
In between he was also in a relationship with Madonna.
Rodman developed into a party animal over the course of his career with numerous trips to casino cities like Las Vegas.
Even after retiring from active life, he drank a lot, was violent, and had trouble with the law on several occasions.
Michael Jordan once said of Rodman that "I would never have thought that he would be 40 years old when he was leading his life."
THE FINAL STAGE
After the legendary Bulls team broke up, Rodman was hired by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The connection did not last long, after the 1998/1999 season the Lakers fired Rodman.
As a 38-year-old, he went to the Dallas Mavericks, which were one of the most unattractive teams in the league at the time - but this station was also a disappointment.
In the Mavericks, he only had twelve games with many fouls, a suspension, a lot of frustration, but at least 14.3 rebounds per game and thus more than the already impressive career average.
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THE POLITICS / to photo with Kim in the stands
You don't travel to North Korea just like that - unless your name is Dennis Rodman and you describe the dictator Kim Jong-Un as a “friend for life”.
Then it goes four times: In 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018 Rodman visited the isolated country.
Rodman emphasized several times that he wanted to bring the United States and North Korea together.
One newspaper joked that Rodman was the only mutual acquaintance of then-US President Donald Trumps, whom Rodman also referred to as a friend, and Kim Jong-Uns.
It was never quite clear whether Rodman's visits and requests really helped bring captured Americans back to freedom.
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