Isiah Thomas Claps Back At Dennis Rodman Over His Controversial Larry Bird Take

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Dennis Rodman, as he so often does, shared a controversial opinion in late June when he explained that he didn't believe Larry Bird would make it in today's NBA. Rodman's bold take caught the attention of seemingly everyone in the basketball world, including fellow NBA legend Isiah Thomas.

Rodman didn't just say that Bird would be an average player in today's NBA, he went as far as to claim that the three-time MVP would be playing overseas.

"If Larry Bird played in this era, I think he'd be in Europe," Rodman explained on VladTV. "I’m just letting you know, man. He'd be somewhere over there. His game was fit for Boston at that time in the '80s and stuff like that. Today's world, oh hell no. There's no way."

Bird won three NBA championships and was named Finals MVP on two of those three occasions, was a 12-time All-Star, sits 13th on the all-time scoring list, and is of course a Hall of Famer. Rodman claiming a player with that resume wouldn't even make an NBA roster in today's game is absurd, and Thomas called him out for it.

Isiah Thomas comes to the defense of Larry Bird after Dennis Rodman's bold take. (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)

"My personal opinion on Larry Bird, if Larry Bird was playing today, he would still be the MVP of the league, and his team would still be winning championships," Thomas said on "Sway’s Universe." 

"Now, why do I say that? Because we just watched ‘The Joker’ , who is very similar to Larry Bird, take his Denver Nuggets team and win the championship. So if I look at these two players, and if I’m saying that they’re similar, then Bird would win two or three championships in this era."

Isiah Thomas strongly coming to the defense of Bird may come as a bit of a surprise to some.

Not only did Thomas win two championships with Rodman during their time together with the Detroit Pistons, but the legendary guard also backed Rodman's take back in 1987 when Rodman said Bird was overrated because he was white.

Rodman recently showed up to a Houston Pride event wearing an incredibly short skirt, so take his opinions about former NBA players, or anything for that matter, with a grain of salt.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.