Throughout his time in the public eye, Dennis Rodman has consistently been controversial, outspoken and entertaining.

Not only was he a hoot during his playing days, but after his retirement, the Hall of Famer has said and done a number of questionable things.

In an interview with Bill Reiter of CBS sports that aired on Tuesday, Rodman delivered a scathing analysis of the notion that NBA players need to sit out games to rest throughout the regular season.

Focusing on LeBron James, who is widely considered to be the best overall basketball player on the planet, Rodman explained why King James will never reach the best-ever status that Michael Jordan currently possesses in his eyes.

"You know what, LeBron's doing one thing that I always said that Michael Jordan never did," Rodman said. "He never rested. He played every game. LeBron has the position to do this now because they need him. The league needs him, and that's why he's doing all this crazy s--- now, like bitching and complaining and all this bulls—."

Keep in mind that LeBron has sat out six games this season in what is a very physically-demanding schedule and a couple of those times were to nurse minor injuries.

Rodman followed that up by saying James’ path has been “very easy” at the NBA level and pointed out that Jordan led the league in scoring for 10-consecutive years, which, in his eyes, was much more difficult to do than putting up James’ well-rounded numbers.

"Back then, when he was getting his ass whupped, I mean beat down every game, and then when he played against us [the Pistons], he said -- guess what -- 'I gotta go back in the gym,'" Rodman said of MJ. "And he got tough. He got tough, and he got great. And greater. So that's it.”

Therefore, it seems like Rodman fits in with the “old school” philosophy that if a player’s healthy, they should be on the court. 


It’s worth noting that James has never played a full 82-game regular season in his career while MJ did nine times.

LeBron has had many pro-resting remarks throughout the past few seasons, recently saying the following (via ESPN):

“It's a long, strenuous season and the NBA does a great job of putting the schedule together as best as they can. You're going to have back-to-backs. You're going to have certain games where certain things fall on certain nights, but a coach's job is to figure out a way for their team to compete for a championship, not compete for a game.”

It's hard to argue this issue as a full proponent of either side because there are clear pros and cons to both ways of thinking. 

After Rodman issued the remarks on James, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who was teammates with him, was asked to respond. Hilariously, he backed up King James.

"I saw Dennis Rodman was complaining about it," Kerr told reporters Wednesday. "I got a kick out of that because Dennis was suspended for 15 games a year, anyway. The guy got plenty of rest. Or [went to] Vegas or WrestleMania.”

That got reporters laughing and closed the door on the entire situation.

The rest versus no rest question will continue to be present in the NBA moving into the future. While some superstars like LeBron James and Steph Curry have been accepting of it, others like Russell Westbrook and James Harden strongly oppose sitting out if they’re healthy.