50 Darkest Moments in NBA History
The history of the NBA is filled with championships, legendary performances, unforgettable rivalries and players who changed basketball forever. But not every chapter has been worth celebrating.
Since the league's earliest years, professional basketball has also endured gambling scandals, premature deaths, devastating injuries, violence, labor disputes, controversial ownership, franchise relocations and events that threatened public confidence in the integrity of the sport.
The following list is presented chronologically rather than ranked. Comparing the death of a player to an ownership scandal or a labor dispute would make little sense. Instead, these are 50 of the darkest, saddest, most controversial or most damaging moments connected to NBA history.
1. 1951: Alex Groza and Ralph Beard Are Banned
The college basketball point-shaving scandal of 1951 quickly reached the NBA. Indianapolis Olympians stars Alex Groza and Ralph Beard were implicated for actions that occurred while they played at Kentucky and were banned from the NBA.
Both were outstanding young professionals. Groza had already become one of the league's best big men, while Beard was an All-NBA guard. Their careers ended almost immediately, demonstrating how seriously the young NBA viewed any connection between players and gambling.
2. 1954: Jack Molinas Receives a Lifetime Ban
Jack Molinas appeared destined for NBA stardom after the Fort Wayne Pistons selected him third overall in the 1953 draft.
Instead, his career lasted only 32 games.
NBA president Maurice Podoloff learned that Molinas had been betting on Pistons games. Molinas maintained that he had only bet on his own team to win, but the distinction meant little to the league. He was suspended in January 1954 and ultimately banned for life.
Molinas later became a central figure in the massive 1961 college basketball point-shaving scandal.
3. 1961: Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown Are Blackballed
The fallout from the 1961 point-shaving scandal extended beyond players who had actually fixed basketball games.
Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown were connected socially to people involved in the investigation even though neither was convicted of point shaving.
Both effectively found themselves barred from the NBA.
Hawkins eventually sued the league, received a settlement and entered the NBA with Phoenix in 1969. Brown never joined the NBA and instead became one of the greatest players in ABA history with the Indiana Pacers.
The treatment of Hawkins and Brown remains one of the most troubling examples of players losing important years of their careers because of association rather than proven involvement.
4. 1976: The Nets Are Financially Crushed After the ABA Merger
The New York Nets entered the NBA as the reigning ABA champions with superstar Julius Erving.
They should have entered the league as an immediate attraction.
Instead, enormous financial obligations associated with entering the NBA and compensating the New York Knicks for territorial rights placed tremendous pressure on the franchise.
The Nets ultimately sold Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers before their first NBA season.
The defending ABA champion was stripped of its greatest player almost immediately after joining the NBA.
5. 1977: Kermit Washington Punches Rudy Tomjanovich
On December 9, 1977, a fight between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets produced one of the most frightening moments ever seen on an NBA court.
Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich ran toward the confrontation when Lakers forward Kermit Washington turned and struck him with a devastating punch.
Tomjanovich suffered severe facial injuries and later said he initially believed the scoreboard had fallen on him.
He eventually returned to basketball, but the incident became the defining example of why the NBA had to take on-court fighting far more seriously.
6. 1978: Buffalo Loses the Braves
Buffalo entered the NBA in 1970 and briefly built an exciting team around Bob McAdoo.
Within eight years, the franchise was gone.
Ownership problems, declining attendance and arena issues eventually resulted in the Buffalo Braves relocating to San Diego in 1978.
The franchise later became the Los Angeles Clippers.
Buffalo has never received another NBA team.
7. 1980-83: The Ted Stepien Era Nearly Destroys the Cavaliers
Few owners damaged a franchise as quickly as Ted Stepien damaged the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stepien repeatedly traded future first-round draft choices while the Cavaliers cycled through coaches, players and losing seasons.
The situation became so severe that the NBA intervened to protect Cleveland's future.
The league eventually adopted restrictions preventing teams from trading first-round selections in consecutive future drafts. The regulation became commonly known as the Stepien Rule.
8. 1984: Donald Sterling Moves the Clippers Without NBA Approval
The Clippers' move from San Diego to Los Angeles became an early example of the league's troubled relationship with owner Donald Sterling.
Sterling moved the team despite the NBA refusing to approve the relocation.
The league responded with legal action and financial penalties before eventually reaching a settlement.
The episode foreshadowed decades of conflict between Sterling and the NBA.
9. 1986: Micheal Ray Richardson Is Banned
Micheal Ray Richardson was one of the league's most gifted guards during the early 1980s.
Substance-abuse problems repeatedly interrupted his career.
In 1986, the NBA banned Richardson after another violation of its drug policy.
His downfall became one of the clearest symbols of the drug problems that damaged numerous careers and hurt the league's reputation during the period.
10. 1986: Len Bias Dies Two Days After the Draft
Few events have stunned the NBA like the death of Len Bias.
The defending champion Boston Celtics selected the Maryland superstar with the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.
Two days later, Bias died after using cocaine.
He was only 22.
Bias never played an NBA game, but his death became one of the defining tragedies of American sports during the 1980s and intensified national concern about cocaine and drug abuse.
11. 1991: Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV
On November 7, 1991, Magic Johnson appeared at a press conference and announced that he had tested positive for HIV.
He immediately retired from the Los Angeles Lakers.
At the time, HIV and AIDS carried enormous fear, misinformation and stigma. Many people believed Johnson was facing an imminent death sentence.
Instead, he became one of the most important public figures in changing how Americans understood HIV.
Johnson eventually returned for the 1992 All-Star Game, played for the Dream Team and briefly returned to the Lakers in 1996.
12. 1993: Drazen Petrovic Dies at 28
Drazen Petrovic had just completed the best season of his NBA career when tragedy struck.
The New Jersey Nets guard averaged 22.3 points during the 1992-93 season and earned All-NBA Third Team honors.
On June 7, 1993, Petrovic was killed in an automobile accident in Germany.
He was only 28.
Petrovic had emerged as one of the NBA's first major European stars and helped demonstrate that international players could become elite NBA performers.
13. 1993: Reggie Lewis Dies at 27
Barely a month after Petrovic's death, the NBA suffered another devastating loss.
Boston Celtics captain Reggie Lewis collapsed while working out at Brandeis University on July 27, 1993.
Lewis died from a heart condition at only 27 years old.
He had averaged 20.8 points during each of his final two seasons and appeared positioned to become the centerpiece of Boston's post-Larry Bird era.
14. 1994: The Timberwolves Nearly Leave Minnesota
The Minnesota Timberwolves were only five years old when the franchise nearly disappeared.
A prospective ownership group attempted to purchase the team and relocate it to New Orleans in 1994.
The NBA rejected the deal.
The franchise eventually received new local ownership and remained in Minnesota, but the episode demonstrated how quickly an expansion team could come close to vanishing from its original market.
15. 1996: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf's National Anthem Suspension
Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf created one of the league's most intense political and cultural controversies when he declined to stand for the national anthem.
The NBA suspended Abdul-Rauf for one game in March 1996.
A compromise was later reached in which he stood while looking downward and praying during the anthem.
The episode became a major debate over league rules, patriotism, religious belief and freedom of expression.
16. 1997: Latrell Sprewell Attacks P.J. Carlesimo
Golden State Warriors star Latrell Sprewell attacked head coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice on December 1, 1997.
Sprewell choked Carlesimo during the confrontation.
The Warriors terminated his contract, and the NBA suspended him for one year.
An arbitrator later restored his contract and reduced the suspension, but Sprewell did not play again during the 1997-98 season.
The incident became one of the most infamous player-coach confrontations in professional sports.
17. 1998-99: The NBA Loses Games to a Lockout
The NBA's labor relationship reached a breaking point during the summer of 1998.
Owners locked out the players, and negotiations dragged on for months.
The dispute became the first labor stoppage in NBA history to cancel regular-season games.
The season did not begin until February 1999 and was reduced from 82 games to only 50 games. The All-Star Game was also canceled.
The lockout badly damaged the momentum the league had built during the Michael Jordan era.
18. 1999: Wilt Chamberlain Dies
On October 12, 1999, basketball lost one of its greatest figures when Wilt Chamberlain died at age 63.
Chamberlain's statistics had once seemed almost beyond imagination: 100 points in a game, 50.4 points per game for a season and countless rebounding records.
His death represented the loss of one of the foundational superstars of NBA history.
19. 2000: The Timberwolves' Joe Smith Salary-Cap Scandal
The Minnesota Timberwolves attempted to circumvent NBA salary-cap rules through an undisclosed agreement with forward Joe Smith.
When the arrangement was discovered, the league responded with one of the harshest penalties ever imposed on a franchise.
Minnesota was fined millions of dollars and initially stripped of five first-round draft choices, although some were later restored.
The scandal seriously damaged Kevin Garnett's supporting cast during some of the best years of his career.
20. 2000: Bobby Phills Dies in a Car Crash
Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills died in an automobile accident on January 12, 2000.
He was 30 years old.
Phills was a respected teammate and defensive guard who had become an important veteran presence for Charlotte.
The Hornets later retired his No. 13 jersey.
21. 2000: Malik Sealy Is Killed
Only four months after Phills' death, another active NBA player died on the road.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard-forward Malik Sealy was killed in an automobile collision on May 20, 2000.
Sealy was returning home after attending Kevin Garnett's birthday celebration.
He was 30 years old.
Minnesota later retired Sealy's No. 2 jersey.
22. 2001: Vancouver Loses the Grizzlies
The Vancouver Grizzlies entered the NBA in 1995 as part of the league's expansion into Canada.
Six seasons later, they were gone.
Poor records, financial problems, ownership changes and weak attendance contributed to the franchise's relocation to Memphis in 2001.
Vancouver has never received another NBA team.
23. 2002: Charlotte Loses the Original Hornets
Charlotte had once been one of the NBA's greatest attendance success stories.
By the beginning of the 2000s, the relationship among ownership, local government and fans had deteriorated dramatically.
The original Hornets relocated to New Orleans following the 2001-02 season.
Charlotte eventually received another NBA franchise in 2004, but the departure of the original Hornets remains one of the league's most bitter relocation stories.
24. 2002: Bison Dele Disappears
Former NBA champion Bison Dele, previously known as Brian Williams, disappeared while sailing in the South Pacific in 2002.
Dele, his girlfriend Serena Karlan and boat captain Bertrand Saldo were never found.
Authorities believed they had been killed aboard the boat.
Dele's brother, Miles Dabord, became the central suspect but died shortly afterward.
The bizarre case remains one of the most disturbing stories involving a former NBA player.
25. 2002: Lakers-Kings Game 6 Creates Lasting Officiating Controversy
Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between Sacramento and the Los Angeles Lakers became one of the most disputed games in NBA history.
The Lakers attempted 27 fourth-quarter free throws and defeated Sacramento 106-102 to force Game 7.
Fans, journalists and analysts have debated the officiating ever since.
There has never been proof that the game was fixed, but the controversy became even more damaging after the later Tim Donaghy gambling scandal increased public suspicion toward NBA officiating.
26. 2004: The Malice at the Palace
On November 19, 2004, an on-court confrontation between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons transformed into the most notorious brawl in NBA history.
After a fan threw a drink at Ron Artest, Artest entered the stands. Players and spectators became involved in a chaotic fight.
The NBA issued massive suspensions.
Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs.
The incident damaged the league's public image and destroyed the championship hopes of an Indiana team that had entered the season as a legitimate contender.
27. 2005: Jason Collier Dies Suddenly
Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier died suddenly on October 15, 2005.
He was only 28 years old.
Collier's death was attributed to a heart-related condition.
His death was another painful reminder that elite professional athletes were not immune from sudden cardiac problems.
28. 2005: Hurricane Katrina Displaces the Hornets
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005 and forced the Hornets from their home city.
The franchise played most of its home games in Oklahoma City during the next two seasons while New Orleans recovered.
The basketball consequences were secondary to the enormous human devastation caused by the hurricane, but the Hornets became one of the most visible symbols of the city's displacement.
The team eventually returned permanently to New Orleans.
29. 2006: Knicks and Nuggets Brawl at Madison Square Garden
Another major fight erupted on December 16, 2006, when the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks became involved in a bench-clearing brawl.
Ten players were ejected.
The NBA handed out significant suspensions, including a 15-game suspension for Carmelo Anthony.
The incident revived memories of the Malice at the Palace only two years earlier.
30. 2007: The Tim Donaghy Gambling Scandal
The credibility of NBA officiating suffered its greatest crisis when federal investigators revealed that referee Tim Donaghy had bet on NBA games, including games he officiated.
Donaghy also provided confidential information to gamblers.
He pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2007.
Although an NBA-commissioned investigation did not find evidence that other referees were involved in criminal gambling activity, the scandal permanently fueled conspiracy theories about officiating and competitive integrity.
31. 2008: Seattle Loses the SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics had played in the NBA since 1967 and won the 1979 championship.
After years of arena disputes and a controversial ownership change, the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The departure remains one of the most painful relocation stories in American professional sports.
Seattle, one of the NBA's strongest historical markets, has remained without a team ever since.
32. 2009: Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton Bring Guns Into the Locker Room
A dispute between Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton escalated into an extraordinary locker-room incident involving firearms.
The NBA suspended both players for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.
Arenas had been one of the league's most popular stars only a few years earlier.
The incident effectively ended his run as the face of the Wizards.
33. 2010: Lorenzen Wright Is Murdered
Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright disappeared in July 2010 near Memphis.
His body was discovered days later, and investigators determined that he had been shot to death.
Wright had played 13 NBA seasons and was particularly well known in Memphis, where he had grown up and later played for the Grizzlies.
The murder remained unsolved for years before arrests and convictions finally followed.
34. 2011: Another NBA Lockout
Only 12 years after the 1998-99 labor crisis, NBA owners again locked out the players.
The 2011 dispute lasted for months and wiped out the entire preseason and hundreds of regular-season games.
An agreement was finally reached in late November.
The season was shortened to 66 games and did not begin until Christmas Day.
35. 2011: The Chris Paul Trade Is Rejected
The NBA temporarily owned the New Orleans Hornets when the franchise attempted to trade Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers in December 2011.
The league, acting in its capacity as owner of the Hornets, rejected the proposed transaction.
The decision immediately created accusations that Commissioner David Stern had personally interfered with basketball competition.
Paul was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Clippers instead.
The episode remains commonly remembered as the NBA's controversial "veto" of the Chris Paul trade.
36. 2013: Sacramento Nearly Loses the Kings
The Sacramento Kings appeared headed for Seattle when the Maloof family agreed to sell the franchise to an ownership group that intended to relocate it.
Sacramento responded with a local ownership group and plans for a new arena.
NBA owners eventually voted 22-8 against relocation.
The Kings remained in Sacramento, but for months one of the NBA's most passionate fan bases believed it was about to lose its team.
37. 2014: Donald Sterling Is Banned for Life
The NBA faced an enormous crisis in April 2014 when a recording surfaced containing racist comments by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
Players considered boycotting playoff games, sponsors reacted and the league faced intense pressure to act.
New commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA for life and fined him $2.5 million.
The Clippers were ultimately sold to Steve Ballmer.
38. 2014: Paul George Suffers a Devastating Leg Injury
Indiana Pacers star Paul George suffered a gruesome leg injury during a Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas on August 1, 2014.
George fractured his right leg after colliding with the basket stanchion.
The injury forced him to miss almost the entire 2014-15 NBA season and immediately changed the outlook of an Indiana team that had been one of the strongest challengers to LeBron James in the Eastern Conference.
39. 2014: Atlanta Hawks Ownership and Front-Office Scandal
The Atlanta Hawks became engulfed in controversy after racially insensitive comments connected to members of the franchise's leadership became public.
Controlling owner Bruce Levenson announced plans to sell his stake after self-reporting an offensive email, while general manager Danny Ferry took a leave of absence following controversial comments about Luol Deng.
The scandal overshadowed a team that was about to produce one of the greatest regular seasons in franchise history.
40. 2015: Thabo Sefolosha's Leg Is Broken During an Arrest
Atlanta Hawks guard-forward Thabo Sefolosha suffered a broken leg during an arrest outside a New York nightclub in April 2015.
The injury ended his season just before the playoffs.
Sefolosha was later acquitted of criminal charges stemming from the incident and reached a settlement with New York City after filing a civil lawsuit.
His absence was especially painful because Atlanta had just completed a 60-win season.
41. 2015-17: Chris Bosh's Career Is Ended by Blood Clots
Chris Bosh was still playing at an All-Star level when recurring blood-clot problems changed his life and career.
The condition ended his 2014-15 season and returned the following year.
Bosh wanted to continue playing, but medical concerns ultimately prevented his return.
His final NBA game came in February 2016, when he was only 31.
42. 2017: Gordon Hayward's Opening-Night Injury
The Boston Celtics entered the 2017-18 season with enormous expectations after signing Gordon Hayward.
Only minutes into his first regular-season game with Boston, Hayward suffered a severe ankle and leg injury after attempting to finish an alley-oop against Cleveland.
The gruesome injury silenced the arena and ended Hayward's season almost as soon as it began.
43. 2018: The Dallas Mavericks Workplace Scandal
The Mavericks faced a major organizational scandal after reports exposed allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct within the franchise's business operations.
An independent investigation found numerous examples of inappropriate workplace conduct and serious management failures.
Owner Mark Cuban publicly apologized and the franchise announced major organizational reforms.
The scandal forced the NBA to confront workplace culture beyond the basketball court.
44. 2019: Kevin Durant Tears His Achilles in the NBA Finals
Kevin Durant had already missed more than a month with a calf injury when he returned for Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Durant began the game brilliantly before suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon during the second quarter.
The injury immediately generated debate over whether he should have returned.
Golden State president Bob Myers emotionally defended the organization's medical process afterward.
Durant missed the entire following season while recovering.
45. 2019: The NBA-China Crisis
A social-media post by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting protesters in Hong Kong created one of the NBA's largest international business and political controversies.
Chinese broadcasters and sponsors reacted strongly, while the NBA faced competing criticism over free expression and its financial relationship with China.
The dispute demonstrated the complications created by the NBA's transformation into a global business.
46. 2020: David Stern Dies
Former NBA commissioner David Stern died on January 1, 2020, after suffering a brain hemorrhage several weeks earlier.
Stern had served as commissioner from 1984 until 2014 and presided over the transformation of the NBA from a league facing serious image and financial problems into a global sports organization.
His death marked the loss of one of the most influential executives in basketball history.
47. 2020: Kobe Bryant Dies in a Helicopter Crash
On January 26, 2020, the basketball world was devastated by the death of Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
Bryant was only 41 and had retired less than four years earlier.
Games around the NBA became scenes of spontaneous mourning, with teams intentionally taking eight-second and 24-second violations to honor Bryant's jersey numbers.
Few deaths have produced such an immediate emotional response throughout the basketball world.
48. 2020: COVID-19 Shuts Down the NBA
On March 11, 2020, the NBA abruptly suspended its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before a scheduled game against Oklahoma City.
The game was canceled moments before tipoff.
Within hours, the NBA season had been suspended.
The shutdown became one of the earliest moments when many Americans realized how dramatically the COVID-19 pandemic was about to alter everyday life.
The NBA eventually resumed its season months later inside the isolated Walt Disney World "bubble."
49. 2022-23: Robert Sarver Is Suspended and Sells the Suns
An NBA investigation into Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver found serious workplace misconduct, including the use of racially insensitive language, unequal treatment of female employees, inappropriate sex-related comments and harsh treatment of employees.
The NBA suspended Sarver for one year and fined him $10 million.
After widespread criticism of the punishment and pressure from players and sponsors, Sarver announced that he would sell the Suns and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
The franchises were eventually sold to Mat Ishbia's ownership group.
50. 2023-24: Ja Morant and Jontay Porter Create New Integrity Concerns
The league faced two very different disciplinary crises involving young players.
Ja Morant was suspended eight games in 2023 after displaying a firearm during a social-media livestream. Only months later, another video showed Morant with a firearm, leading the NBA to suspend him for the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season.
Then came an even more serious threat to competitive integrity.
In April 2024, the NBA banned Toronto Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter for life following an investigation into gambling activity.
The NBA determined that Porter disclosed confidential health information to a bettor, limited his participation in at least one game for betting purposes and placed wagers on NBA games through another person's account.
The cases demonstrated that even though the technology surrounding professional basketball had changed dramatically, some of the same threats that confronted the league in Jack Molinas' era remained.
More Than 75 Years of Difficult History
The NBA's darkest moments reveal just how much the league has endured since its earliest years.
Some crises were created by people inside the sport. Jack Molinas and Jontay Porter threatened confidence in competitive integrity. Tim Donaghy created suspicion about officiating. Donald Sterling and Robert Sarver forced the league to confront the conduct of powerful owners. Latrell Sprewell, Gilbert Arenas and the Malice at the Palace demonstrated how quickly conflict could overwhelm basketball itself.
Other moments were tragedies no league could control.
Len Bias never had the opportunity to play an NBA game. Drazen Petrovic and Reggie Lewis died while approaching or entering their primes. Bobby Phills and Malik Sealy were active players when their lives were suddenly lost. Kobe Bryant's death stunned generations of basketball fans around the world.
Franchise relocations created a different kind of pain. Buffalo, Vancouver, Charlotte and Seattle watched teams disappear, sometimes after years of arguments over ownership and arenas. Sacramento and Minnesota came frighteningly close to experiencing the same fate.
Labor disputes, drug problems, devastating injuries and organizational scandals created additional periods when basketball became secondary to much larger issues.
The NBA Survived Every Crisis
What makes these moments important to NBA history is not simply that they were negative.
Many changed the league.
The Stepien era helped produce restrictions on trading future draft choices. Drug problems contributed to stronger substance-abuse policies. On-court violence brought tougher penalties for fighting. Gambling scandals led to increased integrity monitoring. Ownership controversies forced the NBA to reconsider how much power the league should exercise when an owner's behavior damages an entire organization.
Tragedies changed the league in other ways. Len Bias became a national symbol of the dangers of cocaine. Magic Johnson transformed public understanding of HIV. The deaths of Reggie Lewis and other athletes increased attention on cardiac health. Kobe Bryant's death became a reminder that even the most famous athletes remain vulnerable to sudden tragedy.
The Dark Side of NBA History
Basketball history cannot be told only through championships, records and Hall of Fame careers.
The difficult moments matter too.
They explain why rules changed, why franchises moved, why certain careers ended prematurely and why the NBA developed many of the policies it uses today.
From the gambling scandals of the early 1950s to Jontay Porter's lifetime ban more than 70 years later, the NBA has repeatedly been forced to protect the credibility of its games while responding to events far larger than basketball.
Some of these moments eventually produced reform. Others produced lessons. Some produced nothing except sadness.
Together, they form the darker side of NBA history — one that is every bit as important to preserve as the championships and unforgettable performances that made the league famous.
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