Any man who has received a blow to their nether region knows that pain is indescribable, incomparable and you try to avoid it all costs.
Unfortunately, former NBA star Spencer Haywood wasn’t able to do so, at least in a figurative sense, as he recently found out that he won’t be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame after he was told he finally made it in, 30 years after he retired.
According to USA Today Sports, the former Seattle SuperSonic, who averaged 20.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game over 14 seasons, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal how he felt after receiving the news that he was snubbed.
“This is so embarrassing,” Haywood told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “My stomach has been so bad I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. This isn’t a punch in the stomach. It’s below the stomach.”
Haywood says “someone from the NBA” told him he had made the cut. His agent leaked the report out, as well, to Fox Sports Florida. That apparently led the Hall to tell him the bad news in advance of Monday’s announcement before the college basketball national championship game.
Haywood’s best season came in his rookie year in 1969-70 for the ABA’s Denver Rockets, when he averaged an amazing 30.0 points and 19.5 rebounds per game. He also opened the door for early entry into the NBA, when he challenged the rule that stated players had to be four years removed from high school to enter the league in Supreme Court.
His agent Al Ross isn’t happy about the snub and questions the criteria set to which candidates are chosen.
“I don’t know how it was decided,” Ross said Saturday. “Spencer called me and told me that he was in. First he was in. Then he’s not in. It’s the most ludicrous, absurd thing I’ve ever seen.”
Three decades is long time to wait for the validation you feel you deserve after performing at high level throughout your career, hopefully he gets in soon.