National Basketball Association

Kerry: Dennis Rodman's no diplomat

Published Mar. 5, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman may be the only American ever to have met and spent time with North Korea's reclusive leader, but US Secretary of State John Kerry isn't giving him any diplomatic kudos.

Kerry said Tuesday that the ex-Chicago Bulls player ''was a great basketball player, and as a diplomat, he was a great basketball player.''

''That's where we'll leave it,'' he told NBC News in an interview in Qatar, where he is wrapping up a nine-nation tour of Europe and the Middle East

Rodman made headlines last week with a visit to hermetic North Korea, sat next to youthful autocrat Kim Jong Un at an exhibition basketball game and gave the dictator, who threatens to end the truce with South Korea, several compliments about his leadership.