Dennis Rodman thought long and hard about taking his own life back in 1993, and in the past, he hasn’t shied away from talking about it. He wrote about his suicidal thoughts in his 1996 book, Bad As I Wanna Be, and during an interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger in 2011, he spoke openly about why he contemplated suicide:

But there’s one detail about Rodman's suicide story that hasn’t been discussed much in the past: Craig Sager’s role in Rodman rethinking his decision. Sager appears on the latest cover of Sports Illustrated, and for his cover story, he spoke at length with SI reporter Lee Jenkins about a variety of things, including his history with the NBA, his relationships with various players and coaches, and his recent health issues. It is, as always, good to hear Sager talk about, well, everything.

At one point, Sager talked briefly about how he helped talk Rodman out of committing suicide in 1993. According to Sager, he tracked Rodman down one night at a strip club in Detroit and told him that he would be “stupid” to go through with what he was planning.

“The Landing Strip,” Sager remembers. “He had the gun. He was going to do it. I told him how stupid that would be.”

Later in the piece, Jenkins points out that Sager and Rodman are still very close. Sager gets so many calls from different pro athletes these days that he has to write their names down so that he can keep track of them. But according to Jenkins, “Rodman calls all the time.”

You can read Sager’s whole SI story here. It’ll give you a real appreciation for what he’s doing right now in spite of his poor health and teach you a little bit more about all that he has accomplished throughout his career.

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