Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
According to an article on ESPN.com, former Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman would like to convince some of his previous NBA colleagues to join him on his next trip to North Korea.
Rodman has visited Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of North Korea, twice, and plans to make at least one more visit to speak with the controversial leader.
Rodman plans to return for a week in December to help select local players to compete in two exhibition games to be held in January. The games are scheduled to be played on Jan. 8-Kim’s birthday and two days later on Jan. 10.
On that trip, he hopes to have former teammate Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone accompany him on his journey.
Rodman would have also liked to have Michael Jordan join him, but “Michael Jordan, he won’t do it, cause he’s Michael Jordan,” Rodman said.
In an interview Rodman had with George Stephanopoulos of ABCNews, he would not discuss the idea of Kim as a product of his upbringing and a tyrant in a country of despair. He saw him as “a 28-year-old kid,” and frequently referred to him as friend. When Stephanopoulos once again raised questions of human rights and threats of attacks on the United States, Rodman responded with, “We didn’t talk about that,” and, “If he wanted to bomb anybody in the world, he would have done it.”
When asked about his approach from a diplomatic standpoint and Kim’s views towards President Obama, he said, “He loves basketball…Obama loves basketball, let’s start from there.”
None of the former NBA stars above mentioned have made any comments or actions pertaining to Rodman’s wishes to bring them to foreign soil, and we’ll have to wait and see if his “basketball diplomacy” will amount to anything in the long run.
