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Billy Ray Bates

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Billy Ray Bates
Personal information
Born (1956-05-31) May 31, 1956 (age 69)
Kosciusko, Mississippi, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight211 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High schoolMcAdams (McAdams, Mississippi)
CollegeKentucky State (1974–1978)
NBA draft1978: 3rd round, 47th overall pick
Drafted byHouston Rockets
Playing career1978–1990
PositionShooting guard
Number12, 34, 35, 2
Coaching career1979–1980
Career history
As a player:
1978–1980Maine Lumberjacks
1980–1982Portland Trail Blazers
1982Washington Bullets
1983Los Angeles Lakers
1983–1984Ohio Mixers
1983Crispa Redmanizers
1984–1986Fribourg Olympic
1986–1987Charleston Gunners
1986–1988Ginebra San Miguel
1990Pensacola Tornados
As a coach:
1979–1980Maine Lumberjacks
Career highlights
Career NBA statistics
Points2,197
Rebound313
Assists/Steals352/151
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Billy Ray Bates (born May 31, 1956) is a retired American professional basketball player. Bates played shooting guard at McAdams High in Mississippi and attended Kentucky State University.

Bates played four seasons in the National Basketball Association for the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Bullets, and Los Angeles Lakers. He also played overseas, in Switzerland, Mexico, Uruguay, and most notably in the Philippines for the Crispa Redmanizers and Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association. Bates is considered one of the greatest foreign players in the PBA's history.[1]

NBA career

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Billy Ray Bates, the eighth of nine children, played basketball at McAdams High in Mississippi. He later played basketball for Kentucky State University.

The Houston Rockets drafted him in the 3rd round of the 1978 draft. Before the season started, he was cut by the Rockets, after his agent demanded guaranteed money.[2] He ended up playing for the Maine Lumberjacks in the now-defunct Continental Basketball Association, where he won the league's Rookie of the Year[3] and the slam dunk competition in its all-star game. Bates is credited for shattering at least four backboards in the Continental league before jumping to the NBA.[4] He served as head coach of the Lumberjacks for 12 games during the 1979–80 season and accumulated a 5–7 record.[5]

After signing a 10-day contract with the Portland Trail Blazers in February 1980, the 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 210 lb (95 kilograms) guard became a crowd favorite for his slam dunks and energetic playing style. He once scored 40 points in 32 minutes against San Diego and later 35 points in 25 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks. He was named NBA Player of the Week towards the end of his rookie season. He averaged 25.0 points per game (ppg) in the 1980 playoffs and 28.3 ppg in the 1981 playoffs. As of 2009, this is the franchise record.[6]

Bates played briefly with the Washington Bullets in the 1982–83 season, appearing in 15 games before being let go. He then had a 10-day trial with the Lakers and appeared in four games.[7]

His average of 26.7 ppg in the playoffs is the highest in NBA history by a non-starter.[8]

PBA career

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Bates began play in the Philippines in 1983. His scoring ability, showmanship, and personality endeared him to the basketball-watching Filipino public and the media. He was called the Black Superman. A local shoe manufacturer produced a line of shoes for him to endorse, with his nickname on them.[9]

Bates told The Oregonian: "They loved me ... There, I was like Michael Jordan. I could have anything I wanted. All I had to do was snap my fingers. I had my own condo, my own car and my own bodyguard with an Uzi. I had to fight off the women."[10]

Bates won the 1983 Best Import award and helped the Crispa Redmanizers win two championships. Three years later, Bates and Michael Hackett joined forces to give Ginebra its first PBA title in 1986. He returned to Ginebra in 1987 leading all imports with a 54.9 ppg average. His last stint with Ginebra, then renamed Añejo, was in 1988; Bates played in four games, all of which the team lost, and he was released.[11]

In Bates' four seasons in the PBA for Crispa and Ginebra, he averaged the all-time league high of 46.2 points in 98 career games.[11]

Bates has been celebrated as the greatest foreign player to have played in the Philippine Basketball Association. In October 2011, the PBA inducted him into its hall of fame. Bates flew into the Philippines to personally attend the ceremonies while expressing his fervent wish to work as a basketball coach in his "second home". The Philippine Patriots of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) hired him as its skills coach. On March 8, 2012, the Philippine Patriots fired him due to "repeated misconduct and acts detrimental to the team and to the league".[12]

Later professional career

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Bates later played in Switzerland with the FIBA EuroLeague club Fribourg Olympic, during the 1985–86 season, back in the U.S. with the World Basketball League, a few seasons in Mexico, and a season in Uruguay.[13]

Personal life

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Bates was born in 1956, the second-youngest of nine children, and was raised in Goodman, Mississippi, in a house with no plumbing and no electricity. After his father died when Billy Ray was seven years old, the children worked the fields to support their family. Bates attended school primarily to play basketball; he was able to slam dunk in his second year in high school, but he reportedly never learned to read full sentences.[11] Like his late father, Billy Ray had experienced problems with alcoholism; he first tried malt liquor at age 10, and moonshine by age 14. His use of alcohol and cocaine had significant impacts on his career and health.[6]

Bates has been described as a player unprepared for the lifestyle of a professional athlete. Jerome Kersey writes,

After picking Bates up at the Portland airport, then-Blazer trainer Ron Culp advised Billy Ray not to carry large amounts of cash around, but rather to open up a checking account so that he could pay bills with checks. Bates had a quizzical expression on his face, Culp recalled, and finally worked up the nerve to ask, "What are checks?"[14]

Bates once epitomized the image of hard-partying, sex-crazed athletes in the PBA. His Filipino teammates recalled times when Bates downed a couple of beers in the locker room before tip-off. His teammates told a reporter that Bates was known for a flamboyant lifestyle, including frequent drinking, companionships with many women, and frivolous spending.[11]

On January 17, 1998, Bates robbed a Texaco gas station in Gloucester, New Jersey, at knifepoint.[6] Bates served nearly five years at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg for first-degree aggravated assault and second-degree assault. He was paroled in March 2005, then 18 months later, he served another three months and 24 days in prison after violating his parole by failing a drug test.[15]

In 2009, Bates had submitted an autobiography entitled Born to Play Basketball for publication. The manuscript was handwritten in ink and pencil, spanned 714 pages of legal paper, and required significant editing.[6]

In 2025, during a live segment of Inside the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal said that Bates had died after fellow panelist Charles Barkley wondered aloud whether he was still alive. "I'm doing good for a dead man", Bates told NJ Advance Media. Ernie Johnson Jr., the host of Inside, apologized for the premature obituary, but O'Neal and Barkley did not.[16][17]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

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Source[18]

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1979–80 Portland 16 0 14.7 .493 .421 .718 1.8 1.9 .9 .1 11.3
1980–81 Portland 77 20.3 .487 .259 .854 2.0 2.5 1.1 .1 13.8
1981–82 Portland 75 0 16.4 .473 .293 .787 1.4 1.5 .5 .1 11.1
1982–83 Washington 15 3 18.5 .411 .400 .500 1.2 .9 .9 .2 7.9
L.A. Lakers 4 0 6.8 .125 – .500 .3 .0 .3 .0 1.3
Career 187 3 17.8 .474 .303 796 1.7 1.9 .8 .1 11.7

Playoffs

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Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1980 Portland 3 34.7 .525 .286 .786 3.3 4.0 1.7 .3 25.0
1982 Portland 3 38.3 .565 1.000 .824 2.3 4.3 1.7 .3 28.3
Career 6 36.5 .545 .375 .806 2.8 4.2 1.7 .3 26.7

PBA

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Season Team GP MPG RPG APG PPG
1983 Crispa Redmanizers 49 46.2 10.9 6.1 41.7
1986 Ginebra San Miguel 22 47.4 13.5 5.5 49.6
1987 Ginebra San Miguel 23 46.5 15.0 5.2 54.9
1988 Añejo Rum 65 4 45.0 10.8 4.0 31.2
Career 4 Seasons 98 46.5 12.4 5.7 46.2

References

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  1. ^ Kelley, Steve (February 14, 2012). "Before Lin-sanity, the NBA had Billy Ray Bates". Seattle Times. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  2. ^ FreeDarko.blogspot.com: Y.R.O.U. FreeDarko.blogspot.com (September 8, 2008). Retrieved on May 14, 2015
  3. ^ "Billy Ray Bates minor league basketball statistics". Stats Crew. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
  4. ^ New leaf for Bates " The Dean's Corner by Quinito Henson | Sports. PhilStar.com. Retrieved on May 13, 2015
  5. ^ "Billy Ray Bates minor league basketball coaching records". Stats Crew. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d Quick, Jason (December 25, 2009). "Blazers Top 40: No. 30 Billy Ray Bates, a shooting star who crashed hard after his playing days". The Oregonian. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  7. ^ Mike Missanelli (April 17, 1983). "From playgrounds to NBA back to playgrounds for Bates". The Pittsburgh Press. p. D2. Retrieved February 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  8. ^ Kelley, Steve (February 14, 2012). "Before Lin-sanity, the NBA had Billy Ray Bates". The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  9. ^ Belen, Reynaldo (October 9, 2011). "Grosby to release Black Superman II, Bates' signature shoes". The Fix. Archived from the original on May 19, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  10. ^ Willamette Week | Sunday, February 10th, 2008. Wweek.com. Retrieved on March 9, 2012.
  11. ^ a b c d Bartholomew, Rafe (June 15, 2010). "The Legend Of Black Superman: Billy Ray Bates, Flying High In The Philippines". Deadspin. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  12. ^ "Patriots fire skills coach Billy Ray Bates". Art Requiron, InterAksyon. March 8, 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  13. ^ Kuska, Bob (February 24, 2024). "Billy Ray Bates: Dunks & Downs of a Portland Legend, 1995". From Way Downtown. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  14. ^ Thompson, Wayne. "Back Where it Began: The Return of Jerome Kersey." Archived July 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Wertheim, Jon (June 29, 2016). "Billy Ray Bates's ongoing struggle to sort out life after basketball". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  16. ^ Hunt, Todderick (May 20, 2025). "NBA said he died. But we found this hoops legend, who's 'doing good for a dead man'". NJ.com. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  17. ^ Shipley, Reice (April 22, 2025). "Ernie Johnson issues apology for false claim from 'Inside the NBA' cast that Billy Ray Bates had died: 'We screwed up'". Awful Announcing. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  18. ^ "Bill Ray Bates NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
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