Remembering Len Bias on the anniversary of his tragic death

Len Bias died 32 years ago today, in Riverdale, Maryland, two days after being drafted by the defending champion Boston Celtics.

The NBA Draft is a night of jubilation, a night when dreams that have been worked toward for years become realized as young players finally become members of NBA teams.

The 1986 Draft was no exception, and the second overall pick, Len Bias of Maryland, appeared very happy indeed upon being selected by the defending champion Boston Celtics. He had previously expressed a desire to be drafted by the Celtics and now, his wish had come true.

However happy Bias was, Red Auerbach appeared even happier as he smoked a cigar, appearing on the broadcast of the draft to gush about how impressed he and other members of the Celtics organization were by Bias.

Despite being the defending champions, Boston still had the No. 2 pick that year due to a 1984 trade with the Seattle Supersonics in which they gave up Gerald Henderson for their 1986 first-round selection, which they were now using on the former Terrapin. It was just another one of Auerbachs’ many swindles in a career full of them.

The Celtics were defending champions, but they were getting older. Bias was going to be the bridge from the Bird era into the 1990s, both the link that would provide championship pedigree to younger teammates as well as the star who would lead the way in the years to come.

Much like John Havlicek, who had joined the Celtics in 1962, learning under Bill Russell and Sam Jones before leading the team himself throughout the 1970s, Bias was expected to be the apprentice and then the eventual master, the latest in the long lineage of Celtics greats.

Two days later, though, Len Bias was dead from a cocaine overdose. He had returned to Maryland’s campus, where he met with some teammates and friends in a dormitory. After several hours of partying, Bias had a seizure and collapsed, no longer breathing. Emergency teams were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead due to cardiac arrhythmia brought on by cocaine.

The NBA had long been fighting the idea that the league was too drug-ridden. That same summer, four-time All-Star Micheal Ray Richardson was banned for life by David Stern due to violating the drug policy.

Other players, most notably David Thompson, had promising careers derailed due to drug addiction. Bias’ death was the tragic culmination of the league’s cocaine crisis. Considering the NBA’s lack of popularity in the late 1970s, it is entirely possible to imagine the course of the league being very different if something similar had occurred in the years before the emergence of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan as cross-cultural superstars.

There’s every reason to believe Bias could have been a star. He was dynamic, with a good jump shot and the athleticism to burst out of nowhere for an explosive dunk seemingly at will. At Maryland, he was a first team All-American his senior year, and a two-time ACC Player of the Year, and one can only wonder what his addition to the Celtics would have done for that team.

Boston would advance to the NBA Finals again in 1987, but were outclassed by the deeper and healthier Lakers in six games. If Boston has Bias, is the result different? Is he able to spell an injured McHale and Bird in a series where only one Celtics bench player averaged more than 10 minutes a game? Does a Celtics team led by Bias remain an Eastern Conference power throughout the 90s, rivaling Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls? How different does the landscape of the NBA look in the years to come if the 48 hours following the 1986 Draft play out differently?

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Underlying any questions of what if — far more important than those speculative games — is the tragic nature of the loss itself. If Len Bias had lived, he would now be 54 years old, several years retired after a hopefully long and successful career. Unfortunately, Bias died 32 years ago today, in Riverdale, Maryland, remaining forever 22.

When I think of Bias, I like to remember the grainy pre-HD YouTube videos I’ve watched of him at Maryland, clips where he is so clearly the best player on the court, a player with seemingly no limits placed upon his potential.

When I think of Bias, I like to picture him wearing a white suit and a green Celtics hat, smiling, optimistic about his future, not for a second anticipating what was to come.