There’s not many bad things you can say about those great Houston Rockets teams from the 90s. Led by NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets won back-to-back championships against the New York Knicks (1994) and Orlando Magic (1995). However, behind the scenes, there was turmoil we didn’t know about until now.
On the "No Chill with Gilbert Arenas" podcast, Vernon Maxwell, who is also a Rockets legend in his own right, revealed that he once tried to stab Olajuwon with a glass shard.
According to Maxwell, Olajuwon slapped him in the face at halftime of a Rockets’ game against the Seattle SuperSonics in the 90s after taking offense to Maxwell’s complaining over a lack of shot attempts. Maxwell threw a chair at Olajuwon, which caused glass to shatter on the locker room floor.
If armed police hadn’t entered the locker room and intervened, Maxwell shockingly stated that he intended to stab Olajuwon with the broken glass that was on the floor.
This was far from the first time Maxwell let his hot-headedness get the best of him. There’s a good reason he acquired the nickname “Mad Max.”
Maxwell was a vital key to Houston’s championship teams. However, when the Rockets traded for Clyde Drexler in 1995, the writing was on the wall for Maxwell’s tenure, as he lost his starting position.
No great teams get to the top of the mountain without having some turmoil along the way, but this revelation by Maxwell might be one of the more shocking ones out there.
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