**Apologies for misprouncing Macleod, it's been brought to my attention it's MC-CLOUD. Additionally, the source I used on the Vanos plane crash was incorrect about the departure / arrival location. The flight actually crashed while taking off in Detroit, and is a miraculous story in its own. Thank you kindly to all of those who watched and enjoyed! For more stories like this, check out the "Mike Danton Story" on my page.

Norm Van Lier: “When I came into the league in 1969, everybody was an alcoholic. In the mid-70’s, everybody was a pothead. When I left in ‘78, you either were on the joint or powder.”

The Michael Jordan clip in the beginning is legendary

The mustache and no lineup combo made them all look like they were in their 40s

"career high" has a different meaning for some players.

I didn’t know Andrew Wiggins dad got kicked out of the league for doing blow

The scandal has basically killed the chances of Walter Davis ever making it in the Hall of Fame.

Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd were reinstated back into the nba, I think it’s important to include that in the video

Do more sports scandals throughout history in each sport. This was interesting as hell ill watch em all. You got a reporter voice as well u sound like you've done broadcast before. Well done!

James Edwards got rewarded by being traded to Detroit and winning 2 chips with the Bad Boys

Don't do drugs. Stop it

Johnny High, man lived up to his last name.

Mitchell Wiggins is Andrew Wiggins' father.

This video reminds me of the Pittsburgh Pirates 1985 cocaine scandal, the crazy part is that the mascot for team is the one who was selling cocaine to Pirates players and he also sold cocaine to players from the opposing team when they were in Pittsburgh to play

NBA has the greatest PR team. So many stories go untold

This is such a very well done documentary. The music, the script, the editing…finding photos of NBA players from the 80s and cutting them out. What a superb job.

FYI…John Macleod’s name is pronounce John Mccloud. I was a freshman in college that year and remember this happening. James Edwards played for the Pistons for 4yrs 1987-1991. Averaged about 20 minutes a game and won three chips. Had a pretty decent career after all this. Walter Davis was nominated for Hall of Fame ballot this year, for the first time

"Johnny High" you know that dude was FUCKED up!

Johnny High, Clyde Coke, Bill Bump, Ronnie Rail, Pete Pointshave, Al Koholic, They got everyone!!!

This was very fascinating and you did a fantastic job with structure and pace in this video.

That plot twist (not really but it was unexpected) at 21:26 really shocked me. Incredible video, you have earned a sub

U have a gift for these type videos fr keep em coming

Good video. I remember hearing about this in the news in 1987, and in retrospect it always seemed to me that shortly thereafter this scandal quickly got swept under the rug.

Good video bro, great detail and very entertaining

That was really well presented. Good job bud

Exccellent video. I am a huge bball fan and this was well done. You gained yourself a sub. Looking forward to more! Keep it up!

To clarify on the plane crash since I put it in a reply initially. The flight was from Detroit, not going to it, it crashed just after lifting off the runway however. Quoting the NTSB report: "The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure that the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the absence of electrical power to the airplane takeoff warning system, which thus did not warn the flightcrew that the airplane was not configured properly for takeoff. The reason for the absence of electrical power could not be determined." It was stated during the investigation that there was a culture of pilots pulling the power to that system since it was too sensitive and would trigger if the plane thought it was taking of, even when it wasn't. There were cases of the takeoff warning horn (which was loud) going off when taxiing so pilots would allegedly pull the power to the system to silence the horn, it was stated that there were fingerprints and smudge marks, and it was easy to do without turning around, much like reaching down to change the radio station while driving. Other than that correction, this is a great video and something that doesn't get talked about a lot, IMO overshadowed by the death of Len Bias the year before

I really enjoyed this video..very good information & content..especially your facts on the PHX scandal

Cool channel and topic. Good voice for this stuff . A+ and subscribed.

The crack era hit everybody

Being a Suns fan, this low point obviously led to one of the best eras in the team’s history and led to the team acquiring all around good guy Tom Chambers. Too bad they couldn’t win a title. 😞

Thats why the CBA was born. I used to be a ball boy for a CBA team in the early 80's and all them cats played there cuz they had issues with a substance. Still the coolest experience and people I met .

The idea of Paul Mokeski influeincing an NBA game is insane. He averaged 2 points a game that year.

The funniest story about those Phoenix teams? A team rookie, going to an assistant coaches room, and asking "Hey coach, got any left?"

Just ran into my new favorite hoops account. Man this was so detailed. Well done keep climbing

I worked for the magic from 2004-2014, saw a lot of crazy stuff you’d never think went on. Nothing like rampant drug use but now it’s because they got so much money.

Great video! I'll be keeping this in mind when I go to the Footprint Center next week for AEW

Very informative video! Lots of tidbits and cool info. Graphics are great as well. Could definitely see this taking off with a banger thumbnail

Ayo gil was not bullshitting 😂😂😂😂😂 funny how they sweep this under the rug

I've been curious about this for a while and FINALLY someone does a video on it. Thank you!

I’m from phx and have never heard of any of this. Great vid

This is why they called Oakland "Cokeland" back in the day

Drugs ruined so many hall of fame careers. Bernard King and Sugar Ray could’ve ran the league if not for their habits

I don’t know if this gentleman that put this together was a journalist or in college to be a future journalist but this was well put together. I knew about John Lucas issues but not Dennis Johnson. I was 12 in 1987but had never heard about this. Great video! I’m going to pass this along with my friends. I know my mother & uncles use to joke when telling me that the NBA could only vouch for Kareem, Magic, Bird, Dr. J, Isiah and Jordan as being drug free doing that time. That joke might’ve been really true.

great reporting and synthesis -

Really like your style of videos

Cool video man! really interesting

One small correction about the plane crash involving Suns Center Nick Vanos. There was ONE lone survivor. A little girl who as far as I know is still alive today.

Very well done 👍🏿👍🏿! Appreciate the research you did for this. More views 👀are coming.

Man, Grant Gondrezick is a true legend in my french hometown of Caen, where he spend a year between his release from the Suns and his time by the Clippers. Avg 23,6 pts, 6 ast & 6 reb in 87-88, he is probably the best US player we had back then in the french first tier. The club paid him tribute when he sadly passed

Good video, well done

The title sums it up perfectly

Imagine if Miami had a team that year.

Great video for such a small channel - I a new subscriber

Wow… I’m a giant suns fan and had zero clue this happened. Great video man.

elite quality video, how does this not have at least 100k views😭

This was amazing

Sb nation written all over this, great video bro

this is wild. I had honestly never really heard about this. I know all those players too, but the only one I knew had a coke problem were Davis and Bedford. Mitchell Wiggins lifetime ban!? I had no idea. Glad his son turned out better. But his fathers past never gets brought up. Awesome story.

interesting video. Well researched. You ought to make a part 2, because the way the Suns recovered from this is nothing short of spectacular. They went from almost losing their team to two straight WCF, and then the NBA Finals in a few short years. They did it by trading Larry Nance for Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle. Then they signed Tom Chambers as the NBAs first unrestricted FA. They draftedm Cedric Ceballos in the second round. Then they parlayed Hornaceck Andrew Lang, and Tim Perry for Charles Barkley. Jerry Colangelo, their GM, really earned his money.

Damn even the refs was powdered up attacking each other you got to love the 80s

The newspaper clip at the 10:33 mark jumped out at me - "Kareem's new shot" was the first, last and only three-pointer he made in his career. Abdul-Jabbar was 1-for-18 lifetime from beyond the arc.

Football players were high too in the 70’s 80’s and 90’s

The reason Walter Davis isn’t in the Hall right now. 🕊️🕊️

Great video!!

This is the year I moved to Phoenix and became a Suns fan as a kid 😂

There's something about the Phoenix Suns that can be considered a "curse". Thanks, SBB, for featuring this newfound story (personally) about the Suns' dark period. They were the Playoff (if not Title) favorites after losing to the Bulls in 1993. And for couple of years (1994 and 1995), they had the chance to win it all, but failed to get past the Rockets despite a win away to close out (Rockets were eventual champs in both years). By 2004-08, the "seven seconds or less" era commenced but fell short again, lost to the Spurs 3 of 4 times (Spurs clinched Larry twice). Fans and bandwagons tell 2007 was rigged, citing "unfair" suspensions but dismissed the Suns were less than 5 minutes away (led as much as 10) in grabbing a 3-2 series lead despite shorthanded. And afaik, the Suns have the most NBA Finals appearances that ended as bridesmaids (0-3; 1976, 1993, 2021).

Nick Vanos died when Northwest Flight 255 crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) in Romulus, MI (about 21 miles from downtown Detroit).

If Bill and Wilt competed against "plumbers", Jordan competed with mostly drug addicts, alcoholics and past-their-prime players 😂😂😂

Very informative history, very depressing too.

Players smoke a hella weed now in the NBA

Don’t let Camron see this 😂😂😂

15:54 the team photographer (Photo not available) 🤣🤣🤣

Great video but what's the song at the end? I need that on the playlist

Fascinating how I've never heard of this....

good commentary good visuals good video

Great video. Someday were going to look at todays nba and performance enhancers the same way.

Excellent work my guy! 🤩 These were definitely some grimey times in Phoenix…🏜️🏀 More NBA fans need to learn about these things. Gives people a chance to see what the franchises have gone through to still be here today. 😤

Good content 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿

Dennis Johnson was INVOLVED 👀 DAM... Rip

Great coverage! Thanks for this production. I do believe the Northwest Airlines 255 crash that claimed Nick Vanos (22:03) a little girl survived the crash with serious injuries.

That Michael Jordan Cocaine commercial was the funniest thing I've ever seen, even at the time I was laughing.... He was the guy flying through the air with his tongue out getting mad because he didn't get his way while losing his hair -- you telling me he wasn't on all that coffee?

The Greyhound was my favorite basketball player, when i started watching the sport.

The same thing happened to the 79 or 80 New Orelans Saints. George Rogers had to go on the stand. New Orleans had to tear the team apart and later being brough out.

I love these exposes

Johnny high his reply was fucc yeah during role call

I hope those ex players got help, they deserve a second chance to heal. BLESS THEM

1986 new York Mets did coke, greenies (speed), liquor and weed. They managed to win the World series

obscure sports content 👉🏾👈🏾

One things for sure when a player gets traded Do not assume the reason is because of what the media tells us

New follower 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I can't imagine Phoenix without the suns

Dont do drugs stop it, coming from a guy with gambling problems..

Phoenix back in those days was crazy, too. You know if you lived through it. South Phoenix and East Garfield were very dangerous areas way before west Phoenix got hot.

Got sad when I saw Dennis Johnson was named

The 3 things that shocked me or sounds strange to me was the Jack Sikma & Paul Mokeski stuff about point shaving. Not really convinced the Bucks were in on that eyebrow raising story. Also, the names Don Buse and Garfield Heard from the 1970's. I never heard anything about drugs with them. Everybody knew about Walter Davis doing drugs throughout most of his career. Just like John Lucas and thousands of other NBA players. John MacLeod was the fall guy for all that ''partying ways'' of the Phoenix Suns. These are grown men who should be able to handle their own problems of everyday life.

I always heard that was the reason Walter Davis wasn’t in the hall of fame because he snitched on dudes on his team but wtf about Jack Sikma being involved in point shaving which they can prove the total points were under the spread in this dude is in the hall!!!!!!!!!

“First game being played on indigenous territory” is completely irrelevant, if you look at it a certain way this whole country was once that, too bad they would never do that again though

Great job, this wasn't a shocker at the time, as the NBA was in tatters. BTW, John McLeod, his last name is pronounced "McCloud". But that's a generation or two before your time.

When I saw 'Sweet D', I had to watch.