Michael Jordan and the Bulls capped a 72-win regular season 25 years ago today. And that’s just the start of notable anniversaries for the 1995-96 team.

CHICAGO — “I didn’t even want to play today,” Dennis Rodman said 25 years ago after he and the Chicago Bulls closed out the 1995-96 regular season by defeating the Washington Bullets. “There was no incentive and no motive to even go out there.”

Well, there was some incentive.

The 103-93 road victory on April 21, 1996, was the 72nd victory for Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Rodman and company.

That extended an NBA record they had set five days earlier when they won their 70th game to surpass the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, who finished 69-13.

But with a playoff opener against the Miami Heat five days ahead — the first step in what would be the Bulls’ fourth championship in six seasons and the start of their second three-peat — there were greater priorities.

They already had the record and essentially were catching their breath, which no doubt factored into a 100-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers the night before.

Had they beaten Reggie Miller and the Pacers, the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors would have tied, not surpassed, the Bulls with their 73-9 finish.

“We’ve had a very unique success this year, and I think we have a great team,” Jordan said. “But we’ve still got a lot to prepare for. The regular season doesn’t really count from here on out.”

By the third week in April, the only thing that mattered to coach Phil Jackson’s Bulls was to end June as NBA champions.

This was a goal that the 1971-72 Lakers achieved against the New York Knicks (whose roster included Jackson) but which in 2016 would elude the Warriors (coached by Steve Kerr, a member of the record-breaking Bulls).

So victory No. 72 included Jordan and Pippen seemingly joking around with Washington players, uncharacteristically relaxed. Rodman could be seen yawning.

At one point, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Terry Armour, “referee Dick Bavetta hit a beach ball into the crowd at USAir Arena, imploring fans to toss it around.”

“We really wanted to get this win,” Pippen said. “Momentum is the main thing right now. We wanted to go into the playoffs on a winning note, with some momentum. We didn’t want to just play out the schedule.”

How dominant were the ’95-96 Bulls?

Their victory margin averaged 12.3 points. They won their first 37 home games and lost two games at home all season.

Jordan, who led the league in scoring, was MVP of both the regular season and the NBA Finals. He, Pippen and Rodman were First-Team All-Defensive honorees. Jordan and Pippen were First-Team All-NBA. Rodman led the league in rebounding. Steve Kerr was No. 2 in 3-point shooting percentage.

Jackson wound up as the NBA’s Coach of the Year, Toni Kukoc was the league’s Sixth Man winner and Jerry Krause was Executive of the Year.

It was quite a season.

Here are other Bulls’ 25th anniversaries coming up.

May 1, 1996

The Bulls completed a three-game sweep of the Miami Heat, with victories of 17, 31 and 21 points.

May 11, 1996

Hours after an overtime loss to the New York Knicks and on the eve of Game 4 of their best-of-seven second-round playoff series, Dennis Rodman appeared on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

In the show’s cold open, Rodman announced he was going to be the runningmate of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. Bob Dole.

Rodman: “I’m running for vice president, and if you don’t like it, well you can just kiss my ass. Right, Bob?”

Dole (played by Norm Macdonald): “Yeah, that’s right, kiss it.”

Rodman said he accepted the slot of the GOP ticket because he had a hard life, that his father left when he was 3 and he has spent his life looking for someone he could respect. He said he respected Dole and hugged him.

“Get a hold of yourself you damn freak,” Macdonald’s Dole said, only to have Rodman say he fantasizes about kissing men. “Get the hell off me. We’re sharing the ticket and nothing else.”

Rodman also plugged his book, “Bad As I Wanna Be,” during “Weekend Update,” admiring his own genitals and head-butting Macdonald (just as he did referee Ted Bernhardt during a game against the New Jersey Nets eight weeks earlier).

The Bulls would wind up eliminating Patrick Ewing and the Knicks three nights later in Game 5 at the United Center.

May 19, 1996

The Bulls open the Eastern Conference finals against the Orlando Magic, who had knocked them out of the playoffs the year before, and send a message with a 38-point victory.

Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, Horace Grant and Nick Anderson would be swept 4-0.

June 5, 1996

The Bulls opened the NBA Finals with a 107-90 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics en route to a 3-0 series lead in the best-of-seven showdown.

Michael Jordan, who scored a team-high 28 points, said he took it as a personal affront when Sonics coach George Karl, a fellow former player for North Carolina, ignored him at a restaurant at which they both were dining.

Karl later explained it was a no-win situation because Jordan would have found a way to use his response as motivation no matter what it was.

June 14, 1996

The SuperSonics won their second successive game in Seattle, forestalling a fourth title in six seasons for the Bulls and the fourth straight when Jordan was on the roster for a full season.

The 89-78 Game 5 victory, which followed a 107-86 rout in Game 4, emboldened the Sonics’ Gary Payton.

In ESPN’s “The Last Dance” series in 2020, shown video of Payton saying he thought his physical play “took a toll” on Jordan, Jordan burst out laughing.

“I had no problem with Gary Payton,” he said. “I had a lot of other things on my mind.”

Extending the Finals to Game 6 would lend another layer to the drama.

June 16, 1996

Competing in the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1993 murder of his dad, James, Michael Jordan was determined to make it a Father’s Day to remember for everyone.

It was Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and his seemingly invincible Bulls, 72-10 in the regular season, had been made to look human through consecutive losses in Seattle that delayed a championship celebration.

Back at the United Center on a day honoring dads, Jordan led the Bulls with 22 points and added nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals to sew up a fourth NBA title starting a second three-peat with an 87-75 victory. Besides another championship trophy, he collected his fourth Finals MVP award.

Tears of joy were indistinguishable for tears of sorrow as he clutched the game ball afterward in the locker room.

“I’ve been very blessed,” Jordan said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m going to soak it up. I know I’m coming to the end of my career and still (be) competitive, but I better enjoy every moment because you never know when it’s going to end.”

Jordan, who took a year and a half away from basketball after his father’s death, playing baseball for a time, said he felt as though James Jordan was watching and admitted he had been weighed down by all he was processing in the Finals.

“This was probably the hardest time for me to play the game of basketball,” Jordan said. “I had a lot of things on my mind. I had the good fortune to have my team play extremely well. I just had a lot to think about and maybe my mind was not geared to (the game).

“But I think deep down inside, it was geared to what was most important to me, which was my family and my father not being here to see this. I’m just glad my team pulled me through this because it was a tough time for me.”

Said Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, “This is a tribute to great players led by the greatest player.”

July 12, 1996

While he was playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Stateline, Nev., Michael Jordan agreed to a one-year, $30.14 million contract — up from $3.85 million the year before — to stay with the Bulls amid concerns he might jump to the Knicks.

“Anything could have happened, quite naturally,” Jordan told a well-regarded columnist, then with the Sun-Times, who walked the Lake Tahoe course with him. “My agent may have considered other things because that’s his job. He has to research and see what the options may be. But me, I always thought I would be in Chicago.”

A big factor was the Bulls re-signing Phil Jackson as coach. With Jackson signed to a one-year deal, Jordan was comfortable signing his own. Jordan said he would like the Bulls to also bring back free agent Dennis Rodman for a year.

One more season, one more title.

“Then, after that, you don’t know,” Jordan said. “They may want to take a business approach to it and change the team, and I want to give (Jerry Reinsdorf) the flexibility to do that.”

There would in fact be two more seasons and two more titles before Reinsdorf and general manager Jerry Krause embraced a so-called business approach.

Nov. 2, 1996

The 1995-96 championship banner was raised to the rafters of the United Center and title rings were handed out.

Each was adorned with 72 diamonds. They had a black onyx stone base, topped by facsimiles of their four title trophies to date. On one side was inscribed “Greatest Team Ever.” The cost was nearly $35,000 a pop (which would be approximately $59,000 today).

The Bulls won the home opener over the Philadelphia 76ers 115-86 to move to 2-0 as part of a 12-0 start on their way to a fifth title the following June.

Nov. 15, 1996

The film “Space Jam,” a showcase for the Bulls’ Michael Jordan and Warner Bros. cartoon characters, was released.

Jordan, Bugs Bunny, Bill Murray and others team up to save the day by defeating a team of mutants working for a space-alien amusement park operator.

A remake with LeBron James is due out July 16.