NBA: 20 Past Players That Would Have Owned Twitter
By Bill Speros
7. Marvin Barnes
Had Marvin Barnes had access to Twitter or Instagram, his millions of followers would have been treated to a litany of outrageousness going back to his days at Providence College that would humble the most dynamic social media savvy athletes of today.
As it was, the antics of the player nicknamed “Bad News” kept traditional media types working overtime in the 1970s and ‘80s. During a 12-year career that started in 1974 and transitioned from the ABA to the NBA, he rode the tidal wave of craziness, zaniness and recreational drug that was the norm in both leagues.
As a player, the 6-foot-9 power forward/center was a ferocious scorer and rebounder who moved with the swiftness of a panther. While playing with the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis, Barnes pretty much free-lanced his life on and off the court.
"“I’m a basketball player, not a monk. I play the women, I play the clothes, I play the cars, I play everything I can play. There’s players and there’s playees. The playees are the ones who get played by the players. I am a player,” he said in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Free Spirits."
He once bolted from the Spirits as a rookie because he was upset with his contract, resurfacing days later at a billiard hall in Dayton, Ohio.
He reached his zenith of swagger after missing the team plane from New York to Norfolk, Va. He chartered his own plane, insisted the team pay the pilot, then walked into the locker room minutes 10 before tipoff with a bag of McDonald’s burgers, wearing a mink coat and proudly proclaiming:
"“Boys, Gametime is on time.”"
He then went out and put up 51 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
In Free Spirits, he explained his relationship with drug dealers that developed at a young age.
"“They became like my family. I was living my fantasy, though. I always wanted to be a gangsta, a drug dealer, a pimp, a player, a hustler. I was, like, I’m gonna die young, die fast, gonna die quick, and I’m gonna have fun. That’s it.”"
A true one-of-a-kind, Barnes died in 2014 at the age of 62.
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