Chicago Bulls

Joel Embiid thinks Wilt Chamberlain, NOT Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever ... and Dennis Rodman thinks ... well, he thinks Embiid should "shut the f**k up!!!"

TMZ Sports saw Rodman at LAX on Sunday ... and asked him about the 76ers star's comments about his former Bulls teammate.

Embiid sent the NBA world into a frenzy during a recent episode of Ringer's NBA Desktop, when he said ... "[Jordan] is not the G.O.A.T."

"To me, you got Wilt Chamberlain. He’s got all the records, and no one is ever gonna beat them. I don’t see anyone ever getting 100 points in a game. That’s it, he’s the G.O.A.T.”

Rodman's take?

"Joel Embiid, you're doing a great job for your little island or country where you're from. Shut the f**k up, go do your goddamn job and do Philly proud. That's the 1 thing they need, a championship."

Just to be crystal clear DR didn't agree with Joel's take ... we followed up -- so, you're saying Embiid's wrong about Michael not being the greatest of all time???

"You're goddamn right he's wrong."

Rodman might be a little biased ... he played 3 years with Michael in Chicago -- winning an NBA championship each season.

Michael ('84-'03) and Wilt ('59-'73) played in different eras ... and both had ridiculous stats and an insane amount of accolades.

Jordan is a 6x NBA champion, 6x Finals MVP, 5x NBA MVP, 14x All-Star, 10x NBA scoring champ, 10x All-NBA 1st Team, 9x NBA All-Defensive 1st Team who averaged 30 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists a game over his 15 season career.

Wilt was a 2x NBA champion, 1x Finals MVP, 4x NBA MVP, 13x All-Star, 7x NBA scoring champ, 7x All-NBA 1st Team, 11x NBA rebounding champ who once scored 100 points in a game and averaged 30 points, 23 rebounds, 4 assists a game over his 14 season career.

MJ is in the Basketball Hall of Fame and the FIBA HOF ... and Wilt's in the Basketball HOF and College B-Ball HOF.

We also asked Rodman if Embiid -- who's a pretty good hooper himself (he's arguably the league's most skilled big man) -- will ever himself be considered one of the all-time greats.

It's been 2 weeks since Bobby Portis was traded to the Washington Wizards, but the dude is clearly still upset with the Chicago Bulls ... telling TMZ Sports how the team straight "blindsided" him.

"I was very disappointed," Porter tells us ... "I was getting ready for a game, not knowing it was gonna happen ... you know, getting blindsided."

"But, I'm just happy to be with a team now that really wants me. I can't wait to get back started."

The 24-year-old was drafted by the Bulls in the 1st round of the 2015 NBA Draft -- and obviously felt he would be a Bull for a long time.

But, Chicago sent him packing in a deal for Otto Porter Jr. -- and now Portis is focused on settling in with his new team in his new city.

"They have a good basketball culture here," Portis said ... "I'm just happy to be a part of it."

By the way, the Wizards are only 2 games out of the playoff race -- and Portis is optimistic they can make a serious run.

Scottie Pippen says he's a fan of Luke Walton -- but tells TMZ Sports, if his old pal, Phil Jackson, was coaching the Lakers, they'd be well on their way to an NBA title already.

Look, this definitely ain't an aggressive shot at Luke -- but, Pippen kept it 100 telling us, "That's all he [Phil Jackson] do is win."

Scottie was braving the frozen tundra of Bev Hills (it was 58 degrees) on Monday when we asked about the situation with the Lakers ... currently in 10th place in the Western Conference.

Pippen told us he'd love to see 73-year-old Phil come out of retirement for another crack at a Larry O'Brien Trophy ... and he's confident LeBron, Lonzo and Kuzma could get the job done.

Scottie won 6 NBA rings under Jackson during his run with the Chicago Bulls. Phil went on to win 5 more with the L.A. Lakers.

Of course, there are reports of turmoil in Laker Nation -- with members of LeBron's camp allegedly pushing for Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka to replace Luke ASAP.

We spoke with Luke on Sunday -- and he denied friction with LeBron, telling TMZ Sports, "LeBron and I get along just fine."

So, what happens now? Luke says he's confident he can right the ship and lead the Lakers to the playoffs.

Make sure you're sitting down for this one ... a super rare Michael Jordan trading card just sold for an INSANE $95,000!!! ... TMZ Sports has learned.

It's not just some card ... it's the 1997 Upper Deck Michael Jordan All-Star game jersey card -- complete with MJ's autograph -- and only 23 of its kind exist.

BTW -- this same card -- given an 8 Near Mint condition rating by Beckett Grading Services -- was sold back in 2014 for (just) $45,998 ... already making it one of the highest-selling basketball cards in history.

Now, with the newest sale with PWCC Marketplace, the Jordan autograph card is believed to be in the Top 3 most valuable hoops cards ever ... behind a George Mikan rookie card ($403k!!) and Pete Maravich rookie card ($130k).

When in France, right?

Michael Jordan proved he's too classy to drink beer with the normies at major sporting events -- instead, he sips from his own bottle of fancy wine.

MJ was in the VIP suites at the Paris Saint-Germain vs. Reims game in Paris on Wednesday -- where he watched Neymar dominate in a 4-1 victory at Parc des Princes stadium.

He also apparently brought in his own bottle of red. Guessing they waived the corkage fee.

Jordan was treated like the legend he is during the game -- since PSG recently teamed up with Jordan Brand for a collaborative range of threads. The team prez even presented MJ with his own custom #23 jersey.

Jordan took in the game with his pal, Ahmad Rashad -- no word if he let the ex-football player dip into his wine.

No word on what brand Jordan was drinking -- but the guy's a billionaire so you know he ain't sippin' the cheap stuff.

Dennis Rodman's giving away signed Chicago Bulls jerseys ... just ask this Australian fan who's getting two of 'em after he was spotted wearing The Worm's Lakers jersey while on vacay.

Here's what happened ... Matt from Australia was out with his son in Hawaii over the weekend when Rodman's rep, Darren Prince, spotted him in the No. 73 Lakers jersey. Cool and kinda rare sighting, so Darren dials up Dennis to connect him with the fan.

Dennis tells him "this is the real Dennis Rodman" before Matt jokes about the Hawaiian weather that gets Dennis laughing off his ass. Check it out ... Matt gets quite the surprise when Dennis says he'll send along signed jerseys. Matt's all about it ... saying he'll add it to his Rodman collection. Really.

Matt says he's got Rodman's Pistons, Bulls, Lakers and even a Dallas Mavericks jersey where he had a short stint in 2000. The Hall of Famer then tells a funny story about his No. 70 jersey with the Mavs ... prompting Matt to call ex-NBA commish David Stern a d***. Watch.

Feel bad for Zach LaVine getting wrecked on social media by a seafood restaurant this week??

Well don't ... 'cause the dude is living his best life with his gorgeous girlfriend Hunter Mar in the Bahamas ... and just by looking at the pics, he's the real winner here.

Of course, the NBA star got into a Twitter war with Jimmy's Famous Seafood after the Baltimore restaurant ripped the Bulls for giving him a $78 million deal ... to which LaVine said "I'm allergic to shellfish anyway"

The restaurant clapped back by bashing LaVine's defense ... but something tells us Zach's got bigger fish to fry.

Pearl Jam brought out a very special guest at their Chicago concert this weekend -- none other North Korea's #1 man Dennis Rodman ... who had some, uh, interesting things to say.

The former Bulls star made an appearance Saturday night at PJ's Wrigley Field set and told Chitowners he was thankful for their continued support while he unofficially lobbied for the U.S. with Kim Jong-un ... which unofficially resulted in an actual meeting recently.

Dennis told the crowd ... "You people here are the only people on this planet Earth [that] gave me support. Thank all you guys!" He continued with a promise to the Windy City, saying when he died ... he'd "make sure" to be buried in Chicago. The audience ate it up.

Eddie Vedder told him to put off his death for as long as possible. Well said.

Reggie Theus says HE'S the reason Michael Jordan is what he is today ... and he's waiting on Bulls fans to finally respect that -- telling TMZ Sports, "I'm looking for a check actually."

The former NBA star was leaving LAX when he explained to us that if it weren't for him, the '90s Bulls might have never been a thing.

"I take a lot of credit for their success," Reggie says. "Because, if we weren't so bad, they would have never gotten Michael Jordan."

Theus laughs off the comment ... but Reggie WAS part of the Chicago team in the 1983-84 season that was so awful, it allowed the Bulls to get the No. 3 pick and take M.J. the following season.

The "Crying Jordan" meme will never die ... at least it won't for this dedicated Michael Jordan fan, who got an insanely realistic thigh tattoo of the viral pic!!

TMZ Sports spoke with the artist behind the work, Steve Butcher -- who's known for his unreal sports-themed tattoos --- who says the whole thing took about 10 hours to complete.

Butcher says the person is a MASSIVE Chicago Bulls fan ... and the dude is planning on getting the whole leg inked with Bulls tats.

You've probably seen Butcher's work before ... he worked on a dope Tupac piece for Matt Barnes back in June.

We're told the fan was totally thrilled with the finished product ... and we're assuming it had him crying tears of joy.

What's the only thing hotter than the stogie Michael Jordan lit up on his vacay in Italy this week?? HIS KICKS!!

His Airness was out in Positano on Monday -- coolin' it on boats and hangin' with his entourage -- rockin' a fresh pair of all white Js.

Our sneaker experts tell us they're some kind of Jordan lows ... without a swoosh and DEFINITELY not available for retail.

We're told the basketball GOAT really likes the kicks ... so Nike hooked him up with the one-of-a-kind pair.

This ain't the first time MJ has flossed super rare sneaks while on vacay -- 'cause back in December while in Barbados, he rocked special kicks we'd never seen before.

A judge has dismissed the weapons charges against ex-NBA star Ben Gordon -- after Ben cut a fat 5-figure check to the man he allegedly robbed at knifepoint back in November.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... the former Chicago Bulls player was initially arrested for felony robbery after allegedly going to an L.A. apartment building, pulling a blade on the manager and demanding thousands of dollars in cash.

We're told the incident stemmed from a dispute over Ben's security deposit -- which is odd considering Gordon made $84 MILLION during his NBA career.

The charges were later reduced to 4 misdemeanors -- battery, brandishing a weapon, criminal threats and carrying a knife in plain view.

But now, we've learned ALL of the charges have been dismissed after Ben reached a "civil compromise" with the alleged victim.

Our sources say Gordon cut a $25,000 check and the manager decided to back off.

Before Kim Jong-un met Dennis Rodman in North Korea -- he reached out to Michael Jordan, but got shot down by His Airness ... this according to Rodman himself.

The Worm appeared on "TMZ Live" and said the first time he met Kim Jong-un was in 2013 on a basketball trip with the Harlem Globetrotters.

During the trip, Rodman says Kim Jong-un's people invited him to meet with the North Korean leader and they hit it off ... and became friends.

But Rodman says he wasn't Kim's first choice -- revealing, "Basically, he asked Michael Jordan first and Michael Jordan said, 'No.' So then he asked about me and I said, 'Yes.' That's how it all started."

Turns out, Kim Jong-un is a huge fan of the legendary Chicago Bulls teams of the '90s!

So, why did Rodman -- who's now working as a consultant for AnyTickets.com -- accept the invite? His explanation is actually pretty interesting.

The greatest-of-all-time argument between LeBron James and Michael Jordan is just like the dodo bird and T. rex ... dead forever, so says Michael Rapaport.

Rapaport's point ... LBJ getting swept 4-0 by the Warriors effectively ends any conversation that he's better than MJ ... 'cause nothin' like that ever happened to His Airness.

"It's over. You're not better than Jordan. Jordan won 6 rings."

We then threw it back to Rap ... asking him if his opinion would change if LeBron got on a hot streak and ended up winning as many rings as Jordan.

"There is no 'let's say.' He got f**king swept."

Michael Jordan might be the Michael Jordan of Spring Break -- getting a sexy bikini dance from his smokin' hot wife at a Miami beach party ... and TMZ Sports has the footage!

MJ and Yvette Prieto hit up the Hyde Beach party at the SLS Hotel over the weekend -- where they balled out with a private cabana stocked with tequila and surrounded by muscle-bound private security.

She was boozin'. He was smokin'. These two live a helluva life.

We're told the place was packed with college-aged kids raging it up on Spring Break -- so, most 55-year-olds may have looked out of place ... but this is MICHAEL JORDAN ... so, it was cool.

One more thing ... take a look at that diamond ring on Yvette's finger -- bigger than her knuckle!

Get it!

How does Scottie Pippen feel about his good friend, Kim Kardashian, naming her baby after his beloved Chicago?!

Scottie loves it!!