15 stars you forgot played for the Detroit Pistons

12. Marvin Barnes

A younger generation of fans was introduced to the myths and legends surrounding the late Marvin Barnes through ESPN’s recent “30 for 30″ documentary on the St. Louis Spirits of the ABA.

In his first two seasons with the Spirits, Barnes averaged 24.1 points and 13.4 rebounds per game, winning ABA Rookie of the Year and making the All-ABA team. As a rookie, the 6’8” beast of a power forward averaged 30.4 points in the playoffs, leading St. Louis to the Eastern Division finals.

When the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, Barnes was taken by the Pistons with the No. 4 pick in the dispersal draft.

Fun fact: Barnes was picked one spot ahead of Moses Malone. Think about that, Pistons fans. You could’ve had Moses Malone at 21 years old and paired him with a still-in-his-prime Bob Lanier.

Barnes’ time with the Pistons was short and problematic. Before he’d played a game for his new team, “Bad News” was arrested for carrying a gun in an airport. He was sentenced to one year in jail in Rhode Island for violating his probation, and ended up serving five months during the offseason.

In the 65 games Barnes played for the Pistons before he was traded to the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers), he averaged 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds — a far cry from the monster numbers he was putting up in the ABA.

Due in large part to his drug addiction and off-court issues, Barnes never had the kind of success in the NBA that he had in the ABA, and he was out of the league before his 28th birthday.