Players had to put in a year at college in those days before the NBA came calling so Lewis turned down a $75,000 contract to play with Pittsburgh’s ABA team in 1971 to finish his year at Cal State LA, churning up head-spinning stats, including going 30 for 40 with 73 points all told in a game against Santa Barbara,
An All-American as a sophomore, Lewis was a hot commodity for first NBA draft for which he was eligible, becoming the first round pick for Philadelphia.
The 76’s were so pitiful back then — they only won nine games total the previous season — they had two first round picks; Lewis was 18th overall, but chosen first was a player named Doug Collins who had earned fame with free shots that helped the U.S. Basketball Team win the 1972 Olympics.
And therein lies the injustice that upended Lewis career: Collins got a four-year, $1 million contract, while Lewis was offered $450,000 for three years, with only a $50,000 guaranteed, and a lot of the payments deferred for as long as 25 years.
Lewis had expected to be paid what he was worth, but negotiating himself at age 19 without an agent or lawyer, it was soon clear he’d been had. How could it be rectified? Show us what you got in rookie camp.
He showed up in 1973 outplaying Collins at every turn and earning lots of headlines. But the terms never changed, Lewis got frustrated and skipped practice, and the owners disliked the bad press they were getting.
So there’s another layer to the Lewis story beyond the athletic exploitation. Complaining about getting the shaft compared to the white player made him an example in the NBA. And though he thought he’d naturally be picked up by other NBA teams even after Philly let him go, he never was. He was blackballed for speaking out and not taking the piddling amounts they offered him.
He’s seen now by figures such as Civil Rights activist Harry Edwards as a figure who helped open the door for future players.
It’s a riveting and telling story of American sports and race, snaring a lot of the people who figured in the tale including coaches and managers who still don’t realize how they brought to an end a career that coach Jerry Tarkanian, in what’s billed as his last recorded interviews, says was the best he’d ever seen (and he was quite familiar with him — while at Cal State Long Beach Tarkanian thought he had successfully recruited Lewis, before Cal State L.A. snared him, possibly by providing a Corvette as well).
Polomski’s direction is almost as fast moving as Lewis himself; the story fairly flies along, unveiling its surprising facts as it goes along, unfolding revelation after revelation especially to those who may not recall the tale.
He captures a moment in basketball when street ball was pure, college teams were forced to clean up their act, and the NBA were engaging in the kind of chicanery that likely lingers in the top-dollar sport today.
Released on DVD and BluRay this month, “Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend” streams on Tubi starting Feb. 3.