The Lakers finally annulled their crazy, freaky love-hate union with Dennis Rodman on Thursday night, waiving the flamboyant rebounder after 51 days of no-shows, side-shows and late-shows.
The final decision came at about 8 p.m., sources say, when executives Jerry West and Mitch Kupchak, at the urging of Coach Kurt Rambis, recommended to owner Jerry Buss that Rodman, Buss' good friend, be cut after his latest strange episode.
Rodman showed up a few minutes late for Thursday's practice, looking groggy, and with no basketball shoes or socks.
After seeing that he was not prepared to practice, Rambis told Rodman to leave the L.A. Southwest College gym, then suggested to reporters that a final decision must be made soon on Rodman's status.
When West and Kupchak spoke to Buss, he approved the decision, and Rodman was done, after 27 games--including four that he missed entirely, four in which he refused to reenter (twice in the Lakers' last three games), and several other perplexing incidents.
"At this time we feel it's in the best interest of the Lakers to end the relationship," West said in a statement.
"This obviously didn't work out like we had hoped, but we would like to thank Dennis for the contributions he did make to the team and wish him the best of luck in the future."
Neither Rodman, his talent agency, nor his talent agency's public relations firm could be reached for comment Thursday.
Rodman, who averaged 11.2 rebounds in 23 games after signing a two-year contract with the Lakers on Feb. 23, will be replaced on the roster by Travis Knight, who was the starting power forward before Rodman's arrival forced him to the injured list.
The Lakers were 17-6 in the games he played--but only 7-6 after winning the first 10 of his tenure.
The Lakers owe Rodman, who had won the previous seven rebounding titles, the balance of his pro-rated $600,000 contract for this season, plus another $1.1 million for next season.
A source said that the Laker brass, always troubled by Rodman's actions but willing to overlook much of it if he played good basketball, was pushed off the ledge by three recent actions:
* During the Lakers' victory over Minnesota last Friday, he refused to return to the game in the fourth quarter, saying he was too stiff, then two days later ripped other Laker players for not showing up with enough will.
