Former Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman clarified that he isn’t jealous of the amount of money current NBA players get. During his time, players struggled to make money. Even stars like his former teammate, Scottie Pippen, were underpaid. Pippen earned an annual salary of $2.8 million in the 1997-98 season.
NBA players’ salaries differ greatly from one another, especially when talking about the contrast between various eras. In the early days, players weren’t compensated well. The league found it difficult to pay its players. Now, the contracts that players get are out of this world. For the 2024-25 season, the average salary in the league is $10.28 million.
This has made former players comment about the sudden contract blowups. When his son, who isn’t an All-Star, earns more money than he does, former NBA player Gary Payton remarked that he was born in the wrong era.
“I wish I could just go up and look at the air and say, ‘Hey mom, why you have me so early’,” Payton said.
The question of how much current players make was posed to Rodman, who was a guest on N3on’s live stream. According to him, he isn’t jealous of it because it was never about the money for him.
“Because it wasn’t all about money, it was all about playing, man, you know, it’s the love of the game… a lot of the old players are really bitter, and I’m not bitter, I don’t give a s—t if you make more money than me, I don’t give a damn,” the two-time All-Star said.
The Chicago Bulls forward showed how much he loved playing basketball. Throughout the 1990s, He had one of the best runs as a rebounder. He averaged 15.9 rebounds during that stretch, showing his hustle for the loose ball. Rodman also led the league in rebounding through seven seasons, from 1992 to 1998.
How much did the former Chicago Bulls star earn in his career?
The former Chicago Bulls star played in the NBA for 14 seasons. In his rookie season with the Detroit Pistons, Rodman earned $75,000. Because of the strong first impression he left in his first season, he started to earn more than $100,000 in his sophomore year.
Overall, he earned $27,031,176 in his career in the league in just his NBA salary. He earned the most with the Bulls, securing $16.1 million in his three-year stay.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
