NBA: Dennis Rodman and the 15 Wildest Players in NBA History
The NBA has seen more than its fair share of wild and crazy players, but these 15 stand out above the rest.
Headlined by Dennis Rodman himself, these guys combine to have an unbelievable amount of wild stories in which they are central parts. From drug violations to shooting incidents to tattoos galore, each one fits the wild moniker quite well.
But of course, none of them match up to Rodman. Let's see how close each one can come when he's graded on the 1-10 Worms scale (made in honor of Dennis the Menace's other nickname: The Worm).
Read on to find out.
Adam Fromal is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter @Fromal09.
Chris Andersen
1 of 16Do I really even need to explain this one?
Chris Andersen has multi-colored tattoos on what seems like every single inch of his body. His neck is barely visible underneath the gigantic "free bird" tattoo.
His hair is constantly spiked in one of the most intense mohawks the league has ever seen.
Birdman is known for his athletic play both on the offensive and defensive sides of the court. After finishing a rim-rattling dunk or a particularly impressive block, he crosses his arms and flaps his hands to imitate a bird's wings.
As if that wasn't enough for him to be considered wild, Andersen managed to be banned from the NBA for two years back in 2006 when he violated the league's anti-drug policy. He was reinstated in 2008 and continues to play to this day.
Andersen earns 8/10 Worms
Ron Artest/Metta World Peace
2 of 16Let's go through some of Ron Artest's biggest moments.
1. Climbing into the stands during the brawl at the Palace and getting in a fight with fans that led to a year-long suspension.
2. Shaving messages into his hair multiple times, some more bizarre than others.
3. Threatening to kill Bonzi Wells, albeit jokingly, if he didn't re-sign with the Sacramento Kings.
4. Releasing the rap album My World in 2006.
5. Admitting he drank Hennesey in the locker room during games.
6. Thanking his psychiatrist after winning the NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.
7. Changing his name to Metta World Peace.
Yeah, I think he belongs.
Artest earns 9/10 Worms
Marvin Barnes
3 of 16Whenever you legitimately earn the nickname "Bad News," you're bound to have been at least a little bit wild.
In the case of Marvin Barnes, his wild reputation was mostly due to his off-the-court troublemaking rather than his antics on it.
Barnes started his professional career in 1974 with the Spirits of St. Louis and proceeded to play for the Detroit Pistons, Buffalo Braves, Boston Celtics and San Diego Clippers.
He struggled with drug addiction for his entire playing career and saw his time in professional basketball cut short by it as he ended up homeless on the streets of San Diego.
In his lifetime, Barnes has been arrested for trespassing, illegally using narcotics and burglary of a locked vehicle. After a period where he was in and out of five different drug treatment programs, Barnes was caught stealing videotapes from an adult store in San Diego.
His most recent arrest came in 2007 when the 54-year-old Barnes was found with a bag of cocaine in his car.
Since then, Barnes has been working with young kids in South Providence trying to help steer them away from the treacherous, drug-riddled path that he chose.
Barnes earns 9/10 Worms
Wilt Chamberlain
4 of 16As wildly successful as Wilt Chamberlain was on the basketball court (see 100-point game for example), he was even more successful off it.
The Big Dipper was widely known to stay up into the wee hours of the night and then sleep until noon. Living in Ursa Major at Bel-Air, Chamberlain hosted massive parties and had quite a few sexual encounters.
As most people know, Chamberlain claims to have slept with over 20,000 different women in his lifetime. If that's even half true, he still deserves a spot on this list.
Chamberlain earns 7/10 Worms
Keon Clark
5 of 16Keon Clark actually managed to last in the NBA from 1998-2004, a fact that is going to get a lot more impressive by the end of this slide.
Clark's legal troubles started after his NBA career was finished. At one point, he didn't show up to a trial for his marijuana and weapons charges but was eventually sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
Because he didn't have a lawyer though, the charges were thrown out.
At the trial that he was eventually brought to, Clark actually admitted that he usually drank during halftime and never played even a single game sober during his NBA career.
Clark Earns 6/10 Worms
Darryl Dawkins
6 of 16Chocolate Thunder was one of the wildest personalities that this league has ever seen. If that wasn't evident from his flamboyant style of attire, it was made perfectly clear by his tendency to give things nicknames.
Dawkins, known for his powerful dunks that were more than capable of shattering a backboard, named the one that actually did "The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am Jam"
Other dunks were named the Rim Wrecker, the Go-Rilla, the Look Out Below, the In-Your-Face Disgrace, the Cover Your Head, the Yo-Mama and the Spine-Chiller Supreme.
As if that wasn't enough, Dawkins (or Sir Slam or Dr. Dunkenstein) claimed that he was an alien from the planet Lovetron.
Dawkins earns 5/10 Worms
Eddie Johnson
7 of 16This picture alone should be enough, but fear not, I'll still give you a brief description of Eddie Johnson.
Fast Eddie was a great player for the Atlanta Hawks before his life took a serious turn for the worse. Frequent drug problems actually led to his expulsion from the NBA, and that's only the beginning of the problems.
Johnson has since been in and out of prison and has put together a ridiculous list of over 100 arrests. The worst of all was when he was convicted of sexual battery of a minor under 12 and lewd and laviscious molestation of a child under 12.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and remains in the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution.
Johnson earns 9/10 Worms
Shawn Kemp
8 of 16Shawn Kemp, the thunderous dunking Reignman for the Seattle SuperSonics, has lived quite the wild life off the court.
Kemp was arrested in 2005 for possession of cocaine, marijuana and a semi-automatic pistol. He pled guilty but was arrested yet again in 2006 for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Kemp obviously didn't have the most stellar post-NBA lifestyle.
But the wildest part of all is that the un-married Kemp has fathered at least seven children. The actual number is widely disputed, but seven are confirmed, and they were born to six different mothers.
Kemp earns 6/10 Worms
Bill Laimbeer
9 of 16The baddest of the Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bill Laimbeer didn't shrink away from the physicality of the NBA game, rather he thrived on it.
Laimbeer was one of the most hated players in the league, despised by everyone except the Detroit players and fans because of his penchant for flopping and hard fouls.
It almost seems as though Laimbeer wanted to be remembered as a thug.
Nothing was more telling than the fact that the 6'11" center actually endorsed a video game called "Bill Laimbeer's Contact Basketball."
Laimbeer earns 3/10 Worms
Micheal Ray Richardson
10 of 16Once dubbed the next Walt Frazier, Micheal Ray Richardson became the first player ever to lead the league in both steals and assists in just his second year, but that was as good as it got.
Eight years into his career though, Richardson was banned from the NBA for life by commissioner David Stern. The rationale was that he violated the league's drug policy three times. Richardson was reinstated in 1988 but then failed two cocaine tests in 1991.
As if that wasn't bad enough, he went on to complain about an unfair double-standard, alleging that he was only disciplined because he was African American, while Chris Mullin, a noted alcohol abuser, wasn't because he was white.
Richardson failed to include the fact that drinking alcohol wasn't a violation of the substance abuse policy.
Richardson earns 5/10 Worms
Dennis Rodman
11 of 16It's basically impossible to sum up Dennis Rodman's wildness in just one slide without that slide ending up the length a list of Rodman's hairstyles. And trust me, you don't want that to happen.
Between his kicking of innocent camera men, cross-dressing, marriage with Carmen Electra, piercings, out-of-control style of play and ridiculous hair styles, The Worm is as close as you can get to the very definition of wild.
And that's just all there is to it.
Rodman earns 10/10 Worms
Roy Tarpley
12 of 16Playing with the Dallas Mavericks after he graduated from the University of Michigan and was drafted seventh overall in 1986, Roy Tarpley's career began with a few successful seasons.
At first, he made the NBA All-Rookie Team and then followed that up with a sophomore campaign in which he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year. But then things spiraled out of control.
Tarpley was expelled from the NBA in 1991 after he was found guilty of violating the NBA's drug use policies. After going abroad to continue his career, he was reinstated with the Mavericks in 1994.
But Tarpley's return was quite short-lived as he was banned from the NBA for life for using alcohol and violating the terms of a court-imposed personal aftercare program.
It was quite the life that Tarpley lived while playing professionally.
Tarpley earns 4/10 Worms
Rasheed Wallace
13 of 16Let's take a quick journey back through the suspension-riddled career of Rasheed Wallace.
During the 2001-2002 season, Sheed set an all-time record with 38 technical fouls. The next year, he broke his own record by racking up 40 technical fouls.
That's all the more impressive when you remember that he was suspended seven games for threatening NBA referee Tim Donaghy, the longest suspension ever levied against a player for an offense that didn't involve actual violence or substance abuse.
Wallace went quite a while without another big explosion, although his career was filled with littler ones. But in the 2008 NBA Playoffs, during the Eastern Conference finals, Wallace embarked upon a tirade against the refs that was laced with profanity.
When he laced his sneakers up for the final time, Sheed ended his career with an all-time high 304 technical fouls. He had to be pretty wild on the court to earn that time of honor.
Wallace earns 4/10 Worms
Chris Washburn
14 of 16It seems odd to have a picture of Chris Washburn yawning on a slideshow about the wildest players in NBA history, but no picture is more true to his time spent in the Association.
Despite all the arrests and warning flags sent up during his collegiate years at North Carolina State, Washburn was still drafted third overall in the 1986 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors.
Before his first season was even over, Washburn had to check into a drug rehab program in California with a cocaine problem.
He averaged just 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in the 72 contests he participated in before he was banned for life for failing three drug tests in three years.
Washburn earns 4/10 Worms
Jayson Williams
15 of 16Jayson Williams enjoyed a fairly successful career in the NBA, playing from 1990-1999 with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets before he broke his right leg in a collision with Stephen Marbury and ended his career.
But both during and after his career, Williams had his fair share of trouble with the law.
In 1992, Williams was accused of breaking a beer bottle over someone's head in a bar, but no criminal charges were ever filed. Then in 1996, he was accused of firing a pistol into a parking lot, but once more, there were no criminal charges.
A legal battle then took place from 2002-2010, one in which Williams ended up pleading guilty to a charge of aggravated assault stemming from the shooting death of his limousine driver, Costas Christofi. Williams was sentenced to five years in prison.
During that time, he was stunned by an NYPD taser after reports surfaced that he was being suicidal and violent. The police only stunned him when they found signs of intoxication and empty bottles of prescription pills.
Williams also was charged with assault after getting in a bar fight in Raleigh, North Carolina and punching another man in the face, although the charges were later dropped.
Lastly, he was charged with a DWI in 2010 and had a year added on to his prison sentence.
All in all, Williams lived a wild lifestyle and paid the price for it.
Williams earns 9/10 Worms
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16 of 16Adam Fromal is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter @Fromal09.
