Micheal Ray Richardson was a brilliant player: a four-time NBA All-Star guard. He was also the first player to be banned for life by the league for drug use, a common occurrence during his playing days. In the 1980s, substances such as cocaine were not only part of professional sports, but also part of sports society and entertainment in generaland Richardson says talk of drugs was routine during what some still call the NBA’s cocaine era. “During warmups,” Richardson says, “guys from different teams were like, ‘Yo man, I got what you’re looking for. Let’s meet when [the game] is over.’ And tree That’s how it happened.”
Back then, drugs were “everywhere – it was a fad,” says Richardson, who also goes by the nickname Sugar. But in the NBA it alienated many fans. So much so that, to solve the problem, the NBA instituted a three-strike system, which led to Richardson’s banishment in 1986 (all of which he discusses in his book). upcoming memoir, Forbidden).
Today, aside from the 10-foot basket and five-on-five competition, the NBA no longer resembles the league of the late 1970s and early 1980s. But when it comes to drugs, that change took time. For Richardson, who grew up modestly in the Midwest and only turned to drugs after succumbing to peer pressure while living in New York City and playing for the Knicks, drugs were not part of his early life. Then they caught up with him and led to a debilitating, years-long addiction. But his story is far from unique. When David Stern took over as commissioner of the NBA in 1984, one of his top priorities, in addition to promoting the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, was cleaning up the game. That meant suspensions and lifetime bans (Richardson was also the first player reinstated to the NBA in 1988, but he never returned to the league).
Yet at the time, professional basketball was riddled with addiction and lost potential. Marvin ‘Bad News’ Barnes is perhaps the example of drug problems. His biography, Bad newsdescribes a life of drug abuseincluding hanging out with drug lords, derailing what could have been a Hall of Fame career. He went from averaging 24.1 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in 1975-76 in the ABA to 9.6 and 4.8 a season later in the NBA. Barnes was out of professional hoops in 1980 and, despite many attempts, never quit his habit before passing away in 2014. But Barnes is also not isolated. In 1986, the same year Richardson was banned for life, Boston Celtics rookie Len Bias died of a drug overdose at the age of 22. just hours after they are set up. “He got his hands on some bad stuff,” Richardson said. “That was a sad moment. A wake-up call for everyone.”
Also in 1986, All-Star John Drew was banned for life for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. That same year, Rockets guard John Lucas was fired by the team due to his drug problems had gotten so bad. (Lucas later changed his life and became an NBA coach, established a rehabilitation centerthat helped save the lives of many athletes and even led a professional tennis team with Steffi Graf.)
In 1987, All-Star ‘Fast’ Eddie Johnson was banned for drugs. Chris Washburn, a former No. 3 pick, was banned in 1989. In 1991, former Sixth Man of the Year Roy Tarpley and promising rookie Richard Dumas were both sent packing. The list goes on. But it wasn’t just players. Coaches and executives were affected by substance abuse. Usually in the form of alcohol.
“When I was in the [Continental Basketball Association],” says Richardson, “my coach Bill Musselman – he used to come to that bar when the game was over and he was red as a whistle. He would be so damn drunk. But there were a lot of coaches who drank their alcohol. Then it became more accepted.”
Drug abuse was so rampant in the NBA in the 1980s (even Michael Jordan has talked about it) that teams would have hired private detectives to spy on their players, from Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Norm Nixon to Richardson when he was with the Golden State Warriors. Richardson believes his lifetime ban, along with Bias’ death and the other suspensions, ultimately forced players to confront their drug use. They knew real consequences were coming, that the league was demanding better behavior. Yet the NBA, like all walks of life, has since had to deal with other examples. of alcohol abuse Unpleasant dependence on prescription medications.
Other competitions like the NFL and MLB have also faced serious drug problems, of opioids to painkillers on steroids to cannabis use, which is now legal in many US states and which the NBA has halted testing for 2021 (a fact that irritates Richardson, who has now been drug-free for decades). And all sports face problems with gambling and gambling addictions. When it comes to the NBA, Richardson says, there have been problems with heroin (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar even admitted to trying it once) and then crack. The only remedy was distance. “You have to keep yourself out there,” Richardson says. “Where it doesn’t give you opportunities to do it. Keep yourself out of those environments.”
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Today, the NBA views substance abuse and drug addiction as part of a bigger picture, offering its players a multi-faceted offense that focuses on mental health. At a time when the US is suffering fentanyl and opioid epidemics and other grueling social In this area, the NBA works to educate its staff on the dangers of drug use and addiction, as well as addressing other issues that can affect a person’s mental state. With annual salaries reaching as much as $60 million, there is a lot to protect. The league has indeed come a long way over the years. From players like DeMar DeRozan, who just wrote a book about his mental health journeyto Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood who spoke openly about his problems with substances.
“Even now,” says Richardson, “it’s not like it was in the 1980s, when that was me [playing]. Because now there’s the fentanyl. What they are doing now is mixing all the drugs with fentanyl and it only costs a little bit because fentanyl will kill you.”
And if fans want to take a quick look at a list of recent NBA suspensionsthey won’t find much of the kind that the league suffered from decades ago. Instead, they will largely see the more garden variety during court fights or clashes with referees (although there are still some recent examples of substance abuse). Two people charged with continuing to improve the NBA from a societal perspective including Jamila Widemana former WNBA player and current senior vice president of player development in the NBA, and Dr. Kensa Guntera psychologist and director of NBA and WNBA mind health. Both, especially compared to Richardson’s time, do an excellent jobconsidering the external factors and demands placed on players’ lives today, from social media to gambling pressures.
“One thing about alcohol and drugs,” says Richardson, “they don’t discriminate.”