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The top of his refrigerator is crowded with white plastic bottles, neatly aligned in rows, so snug that another couldn’t fit. The bottles are filled with pills and powders — an assortment of vitamins, herbs, proteins and minerals. Vitamin E. Vitamin D. Ashwagandha. Black seed oil. “Everybody thought I would be dead by now,” Spencer Haywood, 76, said from the living room of his Las Vegas home. “When you all think I’m croaking, I’m going to be able to say I stood for something.” In 1971, he did stand for something. As a 21-year-old, he sued the NBA for the right to join the league despite its rule requiring players be four years removed from high school. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Haywood arguing the NBA’s stance violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.
He won, paving the way for a generation of talent to enter the NBA no matter their age or college standing. In 2005, the NBA and the NBA Players Association passed a rule that players must be 19 years old and one year removed from high school to be drafted, but Haywood’s 1971 ruling is the benchmark that allowed some of the game’s greatest young talent to pursue their dreams. “LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony … it goes on and on,” Haywood said. “I did so much for them individually.”
Today, Haywood is digging in for one final stand: He wants the NBA to recognize the struggle from his court battle by proclaiming the outcome “the Spencer Haywood Rule.” His fight 54 years ago helped usher in billions of dollars for the players — and also the league — but Haywood laments he has been left with only emotional scars. “Even talking about it hurts me,” Haywood said.
He is normally the most jovial of characters. He laughs often, and sometimes he’s the only one who knows why he is laughing. He wears colorful beaded necklaces and bracelets, and they rattle as he enthusiastically tells stories of dinners with Michael Jordan, golfing with Julius Erving, the latest book Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has sent him, or his most recent hang with one of his favorite people, Shaquille O’Neal. But he turns serious and emotional when the subject turns to his two fights — the Supreme Court case and his push today to have that ruling recognized. “My clock is ticking, and I don’t want to go out like this,” Haywood said. “The one thing I want, and I’ve been asking now for the last four years, is to have my name on the ruling: it’s the Spencer Haywood Rule. There are 480 players in the NBA, and 468 of them don’t know who the f— I am. I want the players to know there was once somebody who cared enough to put their life and career on the line. “But, they don’t know.”
Spencer Haywood struggled with cocaine addiction while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1979-80 season and was waived during the 1980 NBA Finals for falling asleep at practice after drug use. Former University of Maryland star forward Len Bias was selected No. 2 overall in the 1986 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics but died two days later after suffering from cardiac arrhythmia caused by cocaine overdose. Former NBA center Chris Washburn was barred in 1989 for cocaine use and didn’t become sober until 2000. “Once you start doing it, the s— just takes over and you don’t think you have a problem,” Richardson said. “Anything that you do that you can’t stop means that you got a problem. Gambling, sex, alcohol, drugs, it’s all the same.”
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When asked which players Spencer Haywood enjoys watching most outside of the headline acts, his eyes lit up and his answer came easily: “I enjoy watching Kevin Durant,” he said. “Oh yeah! I love watching him. I love that lineup that you just gave me but, one of the other guys that I love is, I love watching Jayson Tatum and I love Jaylen Brown because I like his stances [on issues]; he’s a little bit of a radical so I kind of appreciate that and it adds a little more special to his stuff.”
Haywood believes their records are not unbreakable — especially with how the game has changed. Surveying the field of young superstars, he offered some names to watch: “I still like Luka [Dončić] to break John Stockton’s passing record,” said Haywood. “And Luka might be up there to break LeBron’s 40,000 because he’s starting so early in the game so, that’s one. Joker for scoring, but not assists. You know if Ja Morant would put his mind to it and just become an assist maker, he could easily do it, you know? Because he has the time and he has the experience — he can score, but he can also make the passes as well. I like Kyrie Irving too.”
Across sports, he points out, family dynasties have been celebrated, not scorned. “LeBron got it right,” said Haywood. “EVERYBODY wanted to play with their son. Everybody wanted to use their power for them and their family and for the growth of their kids. I mean, isn’t it a great thing? I mean, I look at hockey; I look at Gordie Howe and I look at all the people that played with their sons and why is he being branded like, ‘Oh my god, he did a bad, bad thing!’ And the guy can play!”
Jorge Sierra: Tim Hardaway Jr. passed Kobe Bryant in three-pointers last night for No. 29 in NBA history. Also: Kawhi Leonard moved ahead of Spencer Haywood in scoring for No. 171.
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Spencer Haywood, NBA Hall of Famer and former Sonic: Me and Durant are still talking about Seattle. We talked about it at the All-Star game [this year]. I can’t go any further – there’s some sneaky stuff going on that I can’t talk about because it’s private. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I see him in a Sonics uniform [again]. I was with his mother at the All-Star game – with him and his mother, everybody. I’m just saying.
Spencer Haywood: The Sonics brought me in to be with Durant when he was drafted when he was introduced in Seattle. They brought me in and I was with him onstage and the whole deal. Talking to him, like, “Welcome to Seattle and welcome to the best franchise in the NBA.” I said, “Man, you’re going to love this city. I love this place.”
Spencer Haywood: I watched the whole [2007-08] season. … I was like, “Woah man, we got Kevin Durant up here, this is so beautiful!” Next thing they were leaving. And guess who I saw at the All-Star game [that season]. Clay Bennett. God! No disrespect to him but, you know, he did what he needed to do to get Kevin to Oklahoma City. We allowed him to take it. Now, I have a little withdrawal when I drink Starbucks.
