When you have a lot of money and a lot of free time, sometimes you can indulge to a vice. The most common vice among the professional athletes are, of course, alcohol and drugs! Here is a small ranking of players, who have ruined their professional career because of their vices.
Len Bias
The small forward was one of the most talented players of his generation. Bias’ story is an example of how drugs and alcohol can ruin everything in your life. Shortly after signing a contract for more than $3 m. with Boston Celtics, the forward has returned to the campus in the university and several hours later has been found by the police and has been reported that he was not breathing. The reason for his death was cocaine.
Michael Ray Richardson
Richardson had a long career as a player, but the most of his playing time he spent in Europe. Even though he started very well in 1978 as a Knicks’ player, Michael Ray spent only several years in the best league in the world, after failing 3 drug tests in 1986. He was banned from playing in the NBA for life. However, Richardson had the chance to return 2 years later, but failed another 2 tests and moved to Italy.
Chris Washburn
He is another example of how drugs and alcohol can ruin your career. Chris Washburn admitted to the staff members of his team that he had a cocaine problem. So, he recorded only 2 seasons in the NBA. Considered as a very gifted player, before being selected for the Golden State Warriors, the drugs had eventually cost Washburn a successful NBA career.
In conclusion, there are many sad stories of good basketball players, who can’t develop because of different addictions. The 1986 NBA draft is considered as the ‘cursed’ one, because many of the young talents were using cocaine. However, now it looks like the drugs aren’t very modern among the professional basketball players. Instead of this, we can see lots of doping scandals. For sure, the professional sports will never be the same, as there are lot of spent money and the owners of the clubs want immediate results!