As we all know, a person's personality is difficult to change, especially in adulthood, but there are exceptions to everything, such as the five NBA stars we are going to talk about today, some of them have shown eccentric personalities when they entered the NBA, and some people have begun to show their truest side over time.
Dennis Rodman
Rodman may be the most eccentric player in NBA history, "Big Bug" entered the NBA league in 1996 as a skinny Texas town kid, early in his career, Rodman showed humble qualities, he just wanted to fit into the Detroit Pistons, his former teammates described him as a quiet kid who didn't like to focus on himself.
However, after he left Detroit to join the San Antonio Spurs, everything changed, the real "big bug" appeared, and Rodman no longer cared about what others thought of him, but instead embraced his true self, from colorful hair to countless tattoos, and he no longer minded being labeled a "bad boy."
Kevin Durant
There was a time when Durant was the darling of the NBA media and was packaged as a true role model, the once-mild-mannered young star with the talent to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, while also having a boy image that looks like a church choir, which the league desperately wants.
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But everything has changed since he was heavily criticized for leaving oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016, with Durant striking back strongly at his critics, dumping the clean and tidy image of the boy next door, revealing tattoos on his chest and legs, and then the "trumpet incident" broke out, which further damaged his reputation in the league, and since then, Durant has accepted the fact of becoming a villain and continues to fight with netizens online.
Ci Shiping (Ron Artest)
The name Artest will forever associate with the infamous "Auburn Hills Gang Fight", a stout striker who established himself early in his career as one of the NBA's most feared defensive players, and was named Defensive Player of the Year when he played for the Indiana Pacers in 2004, but he is also considered one of the most grumpy players in the NBA, as evidenced by the numerous clashes he has had with others in his career.
After a record-breaking suspension in 2004, Artest tried to reform and downplay his rough style, and after signing with the Lakers in 2009, he changed significantly, not only integrating into the Lakers' "triangle offense" system, but also reconciling with Kochyen, who had previously clashed, and he even pushed his newly discovered Zen state to the extreme, before the 2011-12 season, he changed his name to Ci Shiping, it is safe to say, despite the act of elbowing Harden's neck, In the last few years of the NBA, he still became much more mature.
Mark Cuban
Cuban is the only non-player on this list, but he's also commendable because he's now much more relaxed than he did when he first bought the Dallas Mavericks.
The controversial billionaire has brought unparalleled enthusiasm to the NBA, which is rare among NBA team owners, but his face-to-face approach has put him in trouble many times, he not only clashed with opponent players, fans, coaches, and even with the NBA executives, he paid a lot of fines, but now he has matured a lot, of course, you will still see him post controversial comments on personal social media, but he will not see him lose his mind.
Kawhi Leonard
To be sure, the twice-won FMVP player still likes to keep secrets and rarely opens up to the media, Leonard has always been the type to make his game speak, and to this day, he's still the guy, but it's clear that the 29-year-old has changed a lot over the years.
Fans were a taciturn man when they saw Leonard in 2011, he focused on his career, just played, and followed the Team culture of the Spurs, Leonard was considered a low-key person and didn't seem to mind playing in a small market, however, this was not the case, and the disagreements with him with the San Antonio Spurs in 2017 showed that the 2.02-meter forward was indeed much more complicated than initially thought, after which he still did not like to talk, However, when he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019, he came up with the idea of load management for the entire season, which was attacked by experts, and some media reported that Leonard's uncle was the puppet master behind him, but until there was no other proof, it could only be regarded as a rumor.