He was a player of dazzling contradictions. 'Sugar' Michael Ray Richardson possessed a talent so immense that basketball icons like Isiah Thomas would later say he 'had it all.' He was a four-time All-Star, a steals-leading defensive terror, and the NBA's 1985 Comeback Player of the Year.
But his career was also defined by a tragic fall. In 1986, he became the first active player in NBA history to be banned for life by commissioner David Stern for drug violations.
