San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is widely respected across the NBA.

As a five-time champion, Pop’s teams consistently finish towards the top of the standings every year and some of the sport’s most recognizable names have been a product of his system, including legends like David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

However, before Popovich coached the team, he was a front office executive. In that role, one Hall of Famer who played briefly in San Antonio shockingly regarded him as an enemy. You might recognize his name: Dennis Rodman.

Popovich was the general manager of the club during Rodman’s second and final season with the team in the 1994-1995 campaign. Despite averaging 7.1 points and a whopping 16.8 rebounds per game over 32.0 minutes for the Spurs, Rodman felt as though the city welcomed him, but Popovich “hated” him.

“The city kind of embraced me, but what’s his name, Popovich, he hated me,” Rodman told Joe Buck on Buck’s interview show “Undeniable” via the San Antonio Express News. “He hated my guts because I wasn’t a bible guy. They looked at me like I was the devil.”

During the interview, Rodman revealed that he felt like a victim during his final months with the Spurs before being traded to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Will Perdue.

“I said my god,” Rodman said. “Am I the same guy that helped get David Robinson a scoring title and MVP? Am I the same guy that averaged 19.3 rebounds per game for you. And I the same guy we won 68 damn games? Am I that same guy, but you guys don’t like me? So I said, ‘OK, trade me. They traded me to the damn Bulls.”

Kurt Helin of NBC Sports’ Pro Basketball Talk offered some more insight on why Rodman might still dislike Popovich after all these years.

“Rodman was coming out of his shell and discovering things off the court, and it was the sense of commitment — while Popovich was working to build the Spurs’ culture — that was the issue,” Helin wrote. “Rodman clashed with Popovich — Rodman was suspended the first three games by the team, then took a leave of absence, and when he returned was suspended again. Later that season he missed some time due to a shoulder separation suffered in a motorcycle accident.”

Therefore, Rodman's time in San Antonio was troubling, to say the least.

As one of the most outspoken and eccentric players to ever play in the NBA, Rodman played for five different teams in his career. Even after retirement, he hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind, this time calling out one of the most respected figures in the sport.