Wired 25: The 25 Craziest Scandals And Urban Legends In NBA History

25.Dwight Howard Muzzles Baby Mama for Basketball Wives

Dwight Howard’s baby mother, Royce Reed, was famously a member on VH-1’s hit show, Basketball Wives. However, if there was any mention of #12 in the show at all, it would be curtains for Royce and VH-1 financially. 

24. Kermit Washington Clocks Rudy Tomjanovich

In the immortal words of Smokey from Friday, “Daaaaaaaaaaamn!”

23. Jay-Z’s Says Stephon Marbury Got Robbed On “La, La, La”

Jay-Z famously alluded that Stephon Marbury got robbed for his jewels on a red light in the song “La, La, La.” Steph wasn’t too happy about that. “Let me tell you something homeboy, you gonna apologize for saying that ‘Don’t get me confused with Marbury you run up on me at the light, you gonna lose your life,'” Marbury said. “You never gonna say that to nobody because guess what, I’m setting up programs for everybody that’s in jail coming home. Yup, they all gonna be working for Starbury. And guess what, they gonna hear this up north. And guess what? They know up north, whatever Starbury says, he’s gonna do it.

22. John Amaechi Comes Out

21. Kevin Garnett Calls Charlie Villaneuva A “Cancer Patient”

Kevin Garnett is kind of a jerk when he’s on the court. Charlie Villanueva--who suffers from Alopecia–claims that Garnett said he “looked like a cancer patient” because of his lack of hair. Garnett would go on to say he meant to say he was a “cancer to his team.” Right, buddy.

20. Kevin Garnett Wished Tim Duncan A “Happy Mother’s Day,” whose mom Died of Cancer

Did we mention that Kevin Garnett is kind of a jerk? So the urban legend is that Garnett once wished rival power forward Tim Duncan a Happy Mother’s Day. Duncan’s mother passed away from breast cancer the day before his 14th birthday. Garnett could claim ignorance to the matter but c’mon dog.

19. Gilbert Arenas Brings His Guns To Games

Gilbert Arenas was a streaky guard who can shoot himself in and out of games. He also more or less shot himself out of the league. After a confrontation with Javaris Crittenton, from which whom he made a bet with, he went to collect his debt by playfully pointing his gun at him

18. Tim Hardaway Hates Gays

“You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.” These were words said by former Warriors and Heat point guard, Tim Hardaway. These insensitive comments made David Stern banish the guard from All-Star activities and effectively the NBA.

17. The United States Voted Against Sending The Dream Team To The 1992 Summer Olympics

Before FIBA let the NBA join their association, the league was banned from sending its players to the Olympics. Before then, only amateurs were allowed to play in the Olympic games. However, when the United States had problems in International play it was Borislav Stanković of FIBA that pushed for the involvement of pros and not the United States Government. Go figure.

16. Kevin Garnett Says Carmelo Anthony’s Wife Tasted Like Honey Nut Cheerios

We did say KG was a…well nevermind. If you haven’t heard by now, KG implied that Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony’s wife tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios. That wouldn’t be taken so bad if it wasn’t rumored that Carmelo Anthony and Lala to be separated. Reactions ensue.

15. Larry Bird Played An Entire Game Shooting Only With His Left Hand

This urban legend isn’t entire true, but he did score a smooth 22 of his 47 points that game shooting with only his left hand. The Celtics had came into this game winning 14 of their last 15 games and finished with 47 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out 11 assists (21-34 FG). Once more,  he hit the game tying shot to send the game to OT, and then made the game winning shot. Larry Legend indeed. 

14. Pistol Pete Maravich Predicts His Own Death

Back when Pete Maravich was 25 years old, he allegedly told reporter, Andy Nuzzo, “I don’t want to play 10 years [referring to the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I’m 40.” Low and behold, Pete Maravich played ten years in the NBA and died of a heart attack when he was 40. Spooky!

13. The Patrick Ewing Draft Conspiracy

As the legend goes, the four greatest players of the 1980s were conspired to go to the four biggest NBA markets in America to help increase the popularity of the league. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing all ended up with Los Angeles, Boston, Chiacgo and New York respectively. As the legend goes, one of the envelopes that included the New York Knicks logo was frozen so Commissioner Stern would know which one to pick last and essentially gifting the Knicks with the Georgetown star.

12. Wilt Chamberlain Smashes Thousands and Thousands of Women

In Wilt Chamberlain’s autobiography, he famously claimed that he smashed over 20,000 women in his lifetime. The mind-boggling number caused a media firestorm, but he never backed down from his claims. “I was just doing what was natural — chasing good-looking ladies, whoever they were and wherever they were.”

Could Wilt have smashed 1.4 women a day for 40 years? Probably not.

11. LeBron James’ Mother Gloria Allegedly Gets It In With Delonte West 

The legend says that LeBron James tanked in his final game as a Cavalier and eventually left his home state of Ohio to go play in Miami because his teammates knew his mother was freakin’ off with then-Cavaliers guard, Delonte West. Although hilarious, West flatly denied the rumor in October of 2012 by stating “”If we want to continue to grow as a human race, what are we teaching our kids if we try to make humor and fun out of stuff like that?” West says of the rumor. “Number one, something like that never happened. I don’t know where they got that from. For a strong black woman like that, for people to try to tear her down, that’s terrible. That’s terrible in so many ways.”

10. Dennis Rodman’s Career

Marrying himself to sell a book? Smashing Madonna? Kicking cameramen in the nads? Multiple arrests? They all pale in comparison to Dennis Rodman’s epic Hall Of Fame speech. 

9. Tony Parker allegedly bangs Brent Barry’s wife

Tony Parker was single and ready to mingle, but he broke all types of guy code when he allegedly got it in with his former teammate, Brent Barry’s, wife. The rumors were never proven true, but Brent filed to divorce from his wife Erin shortly after the rumors hit the streets.

8. Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV.

There have been numerous urban legends that have been connected to Magic Johnson announcing that he had HIV. However, let’s just take the good out of this and say that Magic’s announcement brought more light to the issue of HIV in the 90s.

7. Len Bias Dies Of Drug Overdose

Shortly after a dominant career in North Carolina State and being drafted by the Boston Celtics, Bias died after doing cocaine with some of his college friends.

6. Latrell Sprewell Fades Coach P.J. Carlesimo

Players get into it with their coaches all of the time. However, they usually don’t end up in putting them in the feen. Latrell Sprewell earned himself a season long suspension without pay after he put the Million-Dollar Dream on coach P.J. Carlesimo as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

5. The Malice In The Palace

4. Jayson Williams Commits Manslaughter

Jayson Williams was one of the good guys of the NBA. This undrafted New Jersey Net became an All-Star and one of the feel-good stories of the league. That is until he was playfully showing off his gun collection in his mansion an accidentally shot his driver and killed him. He also tried to distort the evidence before police got to the scene. Williams would serve hard time for his crime.

3. Kobe Bryant Alleged Se*ual Assault Case

The poster boy of the NBA, Kobe Bryant, allegedly sexually assaulted a hotel clerk in Colorado. Although the case was eventually dropped, it was clear that Bean was different since then. It also gave us some classic Chappelle. 

2. Controversy Surrounds Michael Jordan’s First Retirement

Depending on who you ask, Michael Jordan never retired because he lost the love of the game. Rumors about high stakes gambling, the passing of his father, and David Stern refusing to let his golden boy marred in scandal led to a suspension disguised as a retirement as the legend says. Depending on who you believe, that is. 

1. Tim Donaghy Rigs Games

TIm Donaghy forever changed the NBA after he revealed to the world that he fixed games as a gambler. He was a referee for such high stakes games as the Lakers win against the Sacramento Kings in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals as well as the Miami Heat’s first championship run.