Delonte West
Delonte West has had some…interesting times arise since he got his start with the NBA. In 2009, he was arrested near his home in Maryland after being pulled over and caught with a guitar case full of mini artillery. Inside the case hid two handguns and a shotgun. Maybe West was moonlighting as an assassin?
West can take comfort in the fact that all of the current media about him is basically just about how he’s pretty much jobless now.
DeShawn Stevenson
This former NBA star has seen his fair share of negative media attention. Though, aside from all of his turmoil off of the court, he also had a tendency to create some as he played, too. And, perhaps the fact that he became the youngest player in history, at just age 19, to start for the Jazz, made him a little cocky.
In the midst of the 2008 playoff game between the Cavaliers and the Wizards, Stevenson took the opportunity to call James out, saying that he was “overrated.” The feud between the two men seemed to go on forever, involving other celebrities and taking over social media, etc. But in 2018, Stevenson announced that he regretted the whole thing.
Micheal Ray Richardson
If you remember the 1980s, you may be aware of Richardson’s ban from the NBA, which resulted from his use of drugs. In 1986, the player failed his third drug test, which proved he’d been using illicit substances. He was actually the first person in the history of the NBA to have been banned, setting an example for the rest of the players. It’s too bad, too, considering how talented he was on the court.
A few years later, he returned to play in the NBA once again. However, a few more failed drug-tests resulted in his then permanent ban. During his time with the Knicks, he was quoted as saying, “the ship be sinkin’,” which very well could’ve been applied to his own career in professional basketball. Luckily, he’s turned his life around, and he now leads youth basketball camps all over the country with his former teammate, Otis Birdsong.
Jim Jackson
This Fox Sports 1 analyst spent 14 seasons with the NBA. His career with the league took him to the court for 12 different teams. One of those teams happened to be the Dallas Mavericks, on which he played through the ‘90s. During his time in Dallas, in 1996, the rumor mill started to turn and ended up creating a bit of (supposed) beef between Jackson and teammate, Jason Kidd.
When asked about the incident themselves, everyone involved in the rumor said it was just that – a rumor, and there was no truth behind it.
O.J. Mayo
Now, you’ve got to remember that some of the things on this list happened decades and decades ago. People change over the years, the world changes, and it’s important to note that people do stupid things as teenagers – things that they (hopefully) grow out of later in life. But then, sometimes they just turn out to be jerks.
Then, in 2011, at 30,000 feet in the air, he and teammate Tony Allen got into a fight over a card game. Fists were thrown, but Mayo seemed to be on the losing side of things, according to reports. Five years later, he violated the NBA’s anti-drug policy when he failed drug tests, resulting in a two-year ban from the league.