One thing The Last Dance highlights is that the Chicago Bulls were more than a basketball team during their heyday. They were a gigantic cultural force, with Michael Jordan holding the title of the most famous person on earth. This meant that everyone wanted to be around the team, even if that wasn’t always going to be easy.
An example of this came after the Bulls knocked off the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. As we saw in the finale of The Last Dance, Leonardo DiCaprio somehow made his way into the area outside of the Bulls locker room and got to congratulate Jordan for winning a ring. It turns out that he almost didn’t get the chance to do this, but fortunately for him, Ahmad Rashad was able to do him a solid.
Rashad, throughout the series, has recorded videos on his Twitter account for things that popped up that needed a little more context. On Monday evening, he did that with DiCaprio’s backstage cameo.
Here’s the story behind @LeoDiCaprio after Game 6. #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/K5szYBry8i
— Ahmad Rashad (@NBATVAhmad) May 19, 2020
“So when the last dance was over, I was on my way to the locker room, and as I walked to the back I saw security putting these little kids — well, they weren’t little kids, they were like, 20-year-old kids — but they were kicking them out of the back,” Rashad said. “So I saw it was Leonardo DiCaprio and I went over and I got him and I told the security guard he was with me, so I took him through the back, through the training room, and had them sit in the corner of the training room so when the whole team came in, they ended up having a chance to meet Michael Jordan. That was the end of the dance, then the dance was over.”
It’s a fun story from Rashad, one that further helps reinforce my belief that a docuseries that involves him telling stories over several hours would be a joy.
