8 People Who Got Banned From the NBA

It takes a lot to get banned from a professional sports league. Some of the more famous examples come from sports like baseball, with players like Pete Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson being banned for gambling on games and for involvement in the Black Sox scandal, respectively. However, since this is a basketball blog (it even says so in the name), I'm going to be looking at eight people who have been banned from the NBA over the years. Some got reinstated, some were never welcomed back in the league, but at one point, all of these people were dismissed from the NBA. Exempt from this list is disgraced referee Tim Donaghy because apparently, despite betting on games, he is not actually banned from the NBA, though I doubt he'll be welcomed back with open arms anytime soon. But with that out of the way, here are 8 people who got banned from the NBA.

OJ Mayo

Starting with the most recent player to be banned from the NBA, a lot of hype surrounded OJ Mayo as he made his way into the league. An absolute phenom in high school, he drew comparisons to LeBron James before even playing a single season for the USC Trojans. Following that one season, Mayo was selected with the 3rd overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves before being traded on draft night to the Memphis Grizzlies for Kevin Love. Mayo never reached the superstar levels expected of him, averaging 13.8 points and a steal per game for his career while shooting 43% from the field in eight seasons that were marred by inconsistency. Mayo's 2015-16 season ended following a game against the Chicago Bulls after fracturing his right ankle. Unbeknownst to everyone, that game would end up being his last NBA game.

Mayo had dealt with drug-related issues earlier in his career, as he received a 10 game suspension after testing positive for steroids in 2010, which he tried to blame on energy drink he got at the gas station. I've mentioned this in my post about players who didn't live up to their hype, but I can't get over that. It's just so dumb. After that he stayed clean...or he least he was able to avoid getting caught. That was until the 2016 off-season when he was dismissed by the league after violating the NBA's anti-drug program. The league only takes this serious of action when a player tests positive for a "drug of abuse" like heroin, cocaine, or LSD. Mayo is able to apply for reinstatement following this season, but as of right now he is banned from the NBA. He does still have a chance to make it back to the NBA, and he wouldn't be the first player to come back after being banned. Case & point...

Chris Andersen

Before he was known for his mohawk and his many, many tattoos, Chris Andersen was a shaggy-haired, 6ft 10 dude making his way through the NBA as a backup center. After going undrafted out of Blinn College in 1999 (because he didn't know you had to officially apply for the NBA Draft), Andersen began his career in 1999 with the Denver Nuggets. For the first five years of his career, Andersen played with both the Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets without making much of an impact, averaging 5.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks while shooting 47% from the field. His most memorable moment during this run was probably stinking up the joint during the 2005 Dunk Contest. However, his career would be halted during the 2005-06 season the same way OJ Mayo's was.

On January 25, 2006, Andersen was disqualified from the NBA after testing positive for a banned substance that was under the league's "drug of abuse" category, cutting his season short. Andersen tried to appeal the ruling through arbitration, but it was upheld. Andersen would have to wait until 2008 before he could be reinstated. Following Andersen's reinstatement, he re-joined the Hornets and continued to play as of last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, even winning an NBA Championship along the way with the Miami Heat in 2013. Following his return, Andersen averaged 5.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 58% from the field. And since his return, Andersen has been able to avoid controversy...for the most part.

Michael Ray Richardson

Michael Ray Richardson's career in the NBA wasn't the longest or the most glamorous, but he was still a solid player capable of putting up all-star numbers. Following a four-year stint at Montana where he averaged 17.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 49% from the field, Richardson entered the 1978 NBA Draft and was selected with the 4th overall pick by the New York Knicks. Richardson would play eight seasons in the NBA, playing for the Knicks, the Golden State Warriors, and the New Jersey Nets and averaging 14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2.6 steals per game while shooting 46% from the field for his career. Along the way, Richardson was selected to the All-Star game four times and the All-Defensive First Team twice. Richardson looked like a star in the making, but his NBA career got cut short.
Just like OJ Mayo, Chris Andersen, and someone else you'll be seeing on this list soon, Michael Ray Richardson had a drug problem. Cocaine, to be specific. His problem caught up with him in 1986 after he tested positive for cocaine for the third time in his career, leading to the NBA banning him from the league. Richardson didn't take banishment well and argued that commissioner David Stern was discriminating against him for being black, as Hall of Famer Chris Mullin was never punished for his well-known problem with alcohol. Even after he was reinstated in 1988, he never played another game in the NBA, instead playing in overseas and in other basketball leagues for another 16 years, retiring in 2002 at age 46.

Alex Groza & Ralph Beard

I put these two together as they were both involved in the same scandal that ended their careers. Alex Groza & Ralph Beard were both standouts at the University of Kentucky as part of the Fabulous Five, leading the Wildcats to consecutive NCAA Championships in 1948 & 1949 with Groza winning Most Outstanding Player both times. They both entered the 1949 BAA Draft, where Groza went #2 to the Indianapolis Olympians and Beard went #12 in the 2nd round to the Chicago Stags but ended up playing for the Olympians with Groza. In their two seasons with the Olympians, the duo led the team to the playoffs both years and each made the all-star team in their second years, with Groza averaging 22.5 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while shooting 47% from the field and Beard averaging 15.9 points and 4.4 assists per game. The two looked ready to have long, successful careers, but their pasts would come back to haunt them.

In 1950, a scandal broke out after Manhattan College player and future Harlem Globetrotter Junius Kellogg told the New York District Attorney Frank Hogan that he had been offered $1,000 dollars to shave points (intentionally ensure his team didn't meet the point spread) before a game against DePaul. After wearing a wire and obtaining evidence when he was approached again, the lid was blown off a huge point-shaving scandal involving seven colleges, including the University of Kentucky. After being charged with taking bribes from gamblers, Groza & Beard each pled guilty to conspiring to shave points and were banned from the NBA for life by NBA President Maurice Podoloff. Neither would play another game in the NBA.

Chris Washburn

When it comes to NBA draft busts, few are worse than Chris Washburn. Washburn was coming off a successful two-year stint at North Carolina State where he averaged 16.4 points and 6.6 rebounds and entered the NBA Draft in 1986. Washburn would end up getting drafted with the 3rd overall pick by the Golden State Warriors and, as Kobe Bryant would say, completely wet the bed. Washburn would only play 72 games over his first two seasons and underwhelmed, to say the least, averaging a lackluster 3.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.2 blocks while shooting 41% from the field. Whether or not he'd learn to adapt to the NBA, we'll never know, as those two seasons would be the only seasons he'd ever play.
During his rookie season, Washburn checked into a drug rehabilitation clinic for an admitted cocaine addiction. That would be a sign of things to come for him, as he would fail three drugs tests in three years, prompting the NBA to ban him from the league for life. Following his ban, Washburn's life spiraled completely out of control, at one point being homeless and eating out of garbage cans. Luckily though, Washburn has gotten his act together and has been clean for 15 years now.

Connie Hawkins

Connie Hawkins is easily one of, if not the greatest undrafted player in NBA history. Beginning his NBA career in 1969 with the Phoenix Suns, Hawkins only spent seven seasons in the NBA but made a big impact during that time. For his career, Hawkins averaged 16.5 points and 8 rebounds per game while shooting 47% from the field. Additionally, Hawkins was a four-time all-star and made the All-NBA First Team for the 1969-70 season on his way to the Basketball Hall of Fame. However, his NBA career almost never happened because of a scandal Hawkins got caught up in

During Hawkins' freshman year at Iowa, a scandal involving point shaving broke out and Hawkins was linked to Jack Molinas, the key figure in the scandal. Despite Molinas or anyone else involved in the scandal never attempted to involve Hawkins and Hawkins never being arrested or indicted (and the fact that, because he was a freshman and couldn't participate in varsity-level sports, he couldn't participate in point-shaving), Hawkins was expelled from Iowa and blackballed from the NCAA. To make matters worse, the NBA barred players who were involved in point-shaving scandals, meaning Hawkins could not enter the NBA. He went undrafted in both the 1964 & 1965 drafts before being officially banned in 1966.

Hawkins would play in the American Basketball League, the American Basketball Association and with the Harlem Globetrotters for 9 years, during which he won the ABA MVP, the ABL MVP, and led the Pittsburgh Pipers to an ABA Championship victory in 1968. Also, he sued the NBA for $6 million for banning him without evidence of his involvement in the point-shaving scandal. However, in 1969 the NBA reached a settlement with Hawkins and assigned his rights to the Suns. Hawkins got royally screwed by the NBA and missed out on playing some of his best years in the NBA.

Donald Sterling

And now, one of the most infamous moments in modern NBA history. Donald Sterling is the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and owned the team between 1981 and 2014. During his tenure, Sterling moved the team from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1984, got fined for admitting he'd like the Clippers to tank to get Ralph Sampson, suing the league for $100 million for fining him for moving the Clippers without the league's approval, and was almost ousted from the league by other owners in 1982, all while the Clippers were consistently one of the worst teams in the NBA. Sterling was obviously a controversial figure during his time as an NBA owner. However, it wasn't any of those things that got him banned from the NBA for life.

Donald Sterling is a racist. Plain & simple. In 2006, Sterling was sued by the US Department of Justice for housing discrimination, alleging that Sterling refused to rent to black people at his residential complexes in Los Angeles, which was settled three years later for $2.75 million. Also, in 2009, NBA legend and former Clippers' executive Elgin Baylor said that Sterling had a "plantation mentality" and alleged that he told him "Personally, I would like to have a white Southern coach coaching poor black players." The final nail in the coffin, however, was yet to come.

In 2014, TMZ released an audio recording of Sterling and his mistress V. Stiviano, where Sterling made blatantly racist comments after Stiviano posted a picture on Instagram with Magic Johnson. Comments like "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people" and "You can sleep with them. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want, the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games". Following the release, the Clippers warmed up for Game 4 of their playoff series against the Golden State Warriors with their warm-up shirts inside-out, obscuring any team logo. Three days later, Sterling was banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million by NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Following his banishment, Sterling sold the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, thus ending the Donald Sterling story in the NBA.

There's really no way to end this other than this; Donald Sterling is a disgusting, racist human being and the NBA is a better place without him.

Thanks for reading!