[dx_custom_adunit desktop_id=”RTK_K67O” mobile_id=”RTK_5yk0″]
Before the 1979-80 season, Haywood was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Around this time, he became addicted to cocaine. The big man went from averaging 20.7 points per game the year prior to 9.7 with LA. “A lot of guys around the league were doing coke, and it was getting rave reviews,” Haywood wrote in a 1988 issue of People magazine. “If you were an NBA player, leeches lined up to stuff coke in your gym bag after the game.” His problem got so bad, he tried to have his head coach murdered.