Banned
How I Squandered an All-Star NBA Career Before Finding My Redemption
Published on 16. January 2025
Book
Hardback
312 pages
978-1-68358-490-2 (ISBN)
Description
Michael Ray Richardson was a star in the making. After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Montana, where he was voted first team All-Big Sky Conference as a sophomore, junior, and senior, the future seemed bright. Taken fourth overall in the 1978 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, Richardson was billed as "the next Walt Frazier."
In just his second professional season, he became the third player in NBA history to lead the league in both assists and steals-both Knicks team records. Richardson would also notch four All-Star appearances and twice being named to the All-Defensive team over eight seasons between the Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and New Jersey Nets.
But during that time, his time off the court was having a bigger impact on his career than what he was doing on the court.
On February 25, 1986, after three violations of the league's drug policy, NBA commissioner David Stern would ban Richardson from continuing his professional career. His struggles with drugs and alcohol were well documented, and someone considered the next big thing became the first player in league history to be receive a lifetime ban.
For most people, this would be the end to their story-one in which their substance abuse would take over and their downfall inevitable.
However, that was not in the cards for Michael Ray Richardson.
In Banned, Richardson opens up about his life both on and off the basketball court, discussing all the highs and lows that made him both a hero and a villain. Though being reinstated to the NBA in 1988, he would instead have stints in the United States Basketball League and CBA before taking his talents to Europe. With stints in Italy, Croatia, and France, he would lead his teams to numerous championships in his decade-plus overseas.
Now back in the states and running youth basketball clinics, Banned is Richardson's first opportunity to open up about his life, showing that though you may get knocked down-even from self-inflicted actions-the only person that can count you out is yourself. With forewords from Hall of Famers George "The Iceman" Gervin and Nancy Lieberman, this is the story of the Michael Ray Richardson as only he can tell it.
In just his second professional season, he became the third player in NBA history to lead the league in both assists and steals-both Knicks team records. Richardson would also notch four All-Star appearances and twice being named to the All-Defensive team over eight seasons between the Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and New Jersey Nets.
But during that time, his time off the court was having a bigger impact on his career than what he was doing on the court.
On February 25, 1986, after three violations of the league's drug policy, NBA commissioner David Stern would ban Richardson from continuing his professional career. His struggles with drugs and alcohol were well documented, and someone considered the next big thing became the first player in league history to be receive a lifetime ban.
For most people, this would be the end to their story-one in which their substance abuse would take over and their downfall inevitable.
However, that was not in the cards for Michael Ray Richardson.
In Banned, Richardson opens up about his life both on and off the basketball court, discussing all the highs and lows that made him both a hero and a villain. Though being reinstated to the NBA in 1988, he would instead have stints in the United States Basketball League and CBA before taking his talents to Europe. With stints in Italy, Croatia, and France, he would lead his teams to numerous championships in his decade-plus overseas.
Now back in the states and running youth basketball clinics, Banned is Richardson's first opportunity to open up about his life, showing that though you may get knocked down-even from self-inflicted actions-the only person that can count you out is yourself. With forewords from Hall of Famers George "The Iceman" Gervin and Nancy Lieberman, this is the story of the Michael Ray Richardson as only he can tell it.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Michael Ray Richardson and Banned"Michael Ray Richardson deserves to have his flowers as one of the great guards to ever play in the NBA. That's what George Gervin says about it." -George Gervin, NBA Top 75 player
"Pressure makes pipes explode. But pressure also makes dia-monds. And Michael Ray Richardson is a diamond." -Nancy Lieberman, Basketball Hall of Famer
"He was like a Magic Johnson but with a better outside shot." -Spencer Haywood, Basketball Hall of Famer
"Michael was just a hell of a player, in the NBA and in Italy. He had the best hands, getting all these steals. Defensively, he was just awesome." -Bob McAdoo, NBA Top 75 player
"Michael was fearless. He would go into the other team's locker room before the game. No lie. Whether it was Magic Johnson, whether it was Isiah Thomas, he'd go into the locker room and tell them, 'I'm going to bust your ass tonight!'" -Otis Birdsong, four-time NBA All-Star
"Intimidation is part of being a successful basketball player and Sugar was the best." -Michael Cooper, Basketball Hall of Famer
"What I remember most about Sugar Ray is that the level of trash-talking between him, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale always elevated the competition." -Robert Parish, NBA Top 75 player
"A great player and a good man!" -Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues, NBA icon
"Michael Ray Richardson captured my imagination as a young person. He was ahead of his time on the court and his story demands to be heard. It's not a happy story, in the traditional sense, but it contains the joy of someone who found himself when others believed him to be lost." -Dave Zirin, sports editor, The Nation
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Cloth
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-68358-490-2 (9781683584902)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Michael "Sugar" Ray Richardson is a former NBA player for the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and New Jersey Nets. A former All-Star, he is (in)famously known as being the first basketball player to be banned for life from the league for numerous substance abuse violations. Though he was reinstated two years later, Richardson would go on to have a stellar career overseas, playing in such countries as Italy, Croatia, and France. Currently residing in Oklahoma, Richardson now hosts youth basketball programs with former teammate and longtime friend Otis Birdsong.
Jake Uitti's work has appeared in Vanity Fair, the Guardian, Interview, the Nation, the Athletic, and numerous other publications. A Seattle-based writer, Jake has loved and followed the NBA since the early 1990s. Once humorously dubbed "the best under six-foot center in the country," his playing career didn't last past his high school days, but that's when writing took over. The co-author of Muggsy and Earl the Twirl, Banned is his third NBA memoir. Uitti resides in Seattle, Washington, with his beautiful and brilliant wife Eva.
Jake Uitti's work has appeared in Vanity Fair, the Guardian, Interview, the Nation, the Athletic, and numerous other publications. A Seattle-based writer, Jake has loved and followed the NBA since the early 1990s. Once humorously dubbed "the best under six-foot center in the country," his playing career didn't last past his high school days, but that's when writing took over. The co-author of Muggsy and Earl the Twirl, Banned is his third NBA memoir. Uitti resides in Seattle, Washington, with his beautiful and brilliant wife Eva.