Dennis Rodman says he'll try to free Brittney Griner. It could be a 'fiasco,' experts say.

Dennis Rodman has once again inserted himself into U.S. diplomatic relations, this time in an effort to free detained WNBA star Brittney Griner. He told NBC News he plans to travel to Russia to "help that girl."

Rodman, the enigmatic three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and a Hall of Famer, made his first foray into attempting peace with U.S. adversaries by bonding with North Korea dictator Kim Jong-Un over basketball. The current task would be negotiating with Russia for the release of Griner, who was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to nine years in prison earlier this month (she is currently appealing).

His contributions to the negotiations -- if Russia even chooses to pay attention to him -- will be minimal, experts say.

"I can’t see how he can do anything," Russian legal expert Jamison Firestone told USA TODAY. "This is a matter of state-to-state negotiations. Dennis Rodman has no ability to represent the United States and therefore nothing to offer the Russians. I can’t see how this will help Brittney or simplify negotiations. It seems like there is no upside for Brittney here and that it just creates the possibility a damaging fiasco."

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State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that Rodman would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government and "anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder those release efforts."

The WNBA declined to comment when asked about Rodman’s involvement and possible travel to Russia.

Rodman likely thinks that his public messages, including tweets directed to Kim, constitute a track record of helping free Americans wrongfully detained abroad, hostage negotiation expert Dr. Dani Gilbert said.

"I don’t have any sense of what he actually does," said Gilbert, a Rosenwald Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College. "My understanding is that no one actually working on Brittney Griner’s case asked him to do this. He’s freelancing, as far as I can tell."

Rodman might have been front and center during President Donald Trump's historic meeting with Kim four years ago, but William Pomeranz doesn't expect Rodman to be posting any photos of him and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“I just don’t know what they’re going to talk about,” said Pomeranz, the director of the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute, which studies Eurasia. “I don’t think Dennis Rodman can crack through the fences of the Russian legal system.”

A Biden Administration senior official voiced that the White House did not approve Rodman's involvement, despite Rodman's assertion that he received "permission." That permission did not originate from Griner's inner circle, either.

"He got a visa, maybe," Pomeranz said.

Even that seems unlikely. The State Department has issued a "Do Not Travel" advisory for Russia, in part because of "the unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials, the singling out of U.S. citizens in Russia by Russian government security officials including for detention, (and) the arbitrary enforcement of local law."

Rodman had prior relationships with Kim and bonded over basketball, Pomeranz said. His relationship with Vladimir Putin isn't as well-documented, but he did call the Russian president "cool" in 2014.

"I know Putin too well," Rodman told NBC News.

"I don’t know, other than to attract attention to him quite honestly, what he hopes to achieve," Pomeranz said.

Gilbert pointed out that the Biden Administration has been carefully consistent in jointly demanding for the release of Griner and Paul Whelan, another American considered "wrongfully detained" in Russia. Rodman did not mention Whelan in his comments.

Normally, third-party interlocutors like Rodman or former U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson are involved before the two nations are in discussions. But the United States acknowledged a “substantial offer” in July and Russia has also said negotiations involving Griner and Whelan have happened.

“It's strange to see Mr. Rodman going now, after the U.S. has made an offer,” David Whelan, Paul's brother, wrote in a text message to USA TODAY. “And there's always the chance that non-governmental actors will derail the Russia-US discussions.  I'm confident, based on the White House's statements, that it continues to discuss its offer with the Russian government, regardless of input from other parties.”

It wouldn't be the first time Rodman has found himself involved in the case of an imprisoned American in hostile territory. During an appearance on CNN's "New Day" in 2014, he criticized the actions of Kenneth Bae, who was being held in North Korea at the time, saying he must have done something to deserve his 15-year sentence of hard labor. (Rodman later said he had been drinking.)

Bae was freed later that year and thanked Rodman for bringing attention to his case.

But Russia is a completely different challenge, even for Rodman.

“I have no knowledge that he has any sort of connections in the Russian federation that would enable him to achieve some sort of prisoner swap or get Brittney Griner home," Pomeranz said. "I’m sorry to be so negative.”

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca. Contributing: Mike Freeman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dennis Rodman could hurt Brittney Griner's cause, experts say