Billy Ray Bates

However, there were signs that the 6’4" guard, nicknamed "Dunk", would have to make major changes in his game and attitude for him to stick in the NBA. Although he thrilled fans with his aerial exploits, the league's yearbook said he was a great rebounder and dunker, but noted that those skills were not needed for his position. He once slept through the first half of a home game, arriving at halftime.

Bates later played in Switzerland, back in the U.S with the World Basketball League, a few seasons in Mexico—even a season in Uruguay.

To this day, Bates is acclaimed as the greatest import to have played in the Philippine Basketball Association, and in October 2011, the PBA finally recognized his immense and revolutionary contributions to Philippine professional basketball by enshrining him to its version of the 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". He got his wish when the Philippine Patriots of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) hired him as its skills coach. However, on March 8, 2012, the Philippine Patriots fired him due to "repeated misconduct and acts detrimental to the team and to the league."

During the prison sentence, Bates wrote his autobiography titled Born to Play Basketball in ink and pencil on 714 pages of yellow legal paper, front to back. Although featuring rudimentary spelling and painful grammar, Michele Mako, the publisher of Florida Peach Publishing Company, was said to have considered the manuscript. Mako liked Bates' honesty about his past and booked the ex-pro on a three-day, three-night NBA and NFL Speakers Cruise in February 2009 to the Bahamas.

In 2009, Bates worked for a big grocery supplies chain, then as a floor technician in the 6 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. shift with the Colgate recycling company in New Jersey. Bates and his wife Beverly, have been married for over twenty years. He has a daughter, Jennifer, who lives in Switzerland, where he once played.

He violated his parole when cocaine showed up in his drug test eighteen months later. Bates went back to Bayside and was released on March 23, 2008.

Bates passed a rehabilitation program in 2008 at a Salvation Army center in Newark, New Jersey. Citing confidentiality laws, Captain Carol Austin only indirectly acknowledged Bates' involvement, saying the last she heard from him he was headed to Portland in 2008.

Bates was convicted of first degree aggravated assault and second-degree assault, and in June 2000 began serving a sentence at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, N.J. that carried a maximum of 10 years, 3 months and 24 days and a minimum of 5 years, 11 months and 16 days. He was paroled in March 2005 after completing 85 percent of his minimum sentence (4 years, 9 months and 11 days).

On January 17, 1998, Bates robbed a New Jersey Texaco station at knifepoint, slashing the ear of attendant Philip Kittel. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. Bates hit bottom when he robbed the gasoline station. At the time, he was living with his wife and stepdaughter while holding two manual-labor jobs in eastern New Jersey.

In the past, Bates has been vague about the root of his difficulties. In a 1992 interview with The Oregonian, for example, he denied having drug problems.

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 was in 1988, where he teamed up with future Celtics star Kevin Gamble. But being out of shape, he played in only four games and both players were eventually replaced by the high scoring duo of Joe Ward and Tommy Davis. Billy Ray Bates would be widely regarded by many as the greatest import ever to have played in the PBA.

In September 1982, after 3 seasons in Portland, he was cut from the team. Bates later checked into a Portland hospital, allegedly for drug treatment.

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 (where he supposedly dunked on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and appeared in 4 games, but at 25 pounds overweight, that didn't work out either. He would never play in the NBA again.

After signing a 10-day contract with the Portland Trail Blazers in February 1980, the high-flying 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard quickly 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. The league also took notice, naming him NBA Player of the Week towards the end of his rookie season. He especially excelled in the playoffs, averaging 25.0 ppg in the 1980 playoffs and 28.3 ppg in the 1981 playoffs (which today still stands as the franchise record)

Bates's entry to the Philippine Basketball Association in the mid-1980s caused great changes for that league. In his first game with the Crispa Redmanizers, Bates immediately grabbed the limelight and thrilled the crowd with a spectacular display of inside and outside moves against the league powerhouse, Great Taste Coffee. In that game, Bates would go up against PBA legend Norman Black and exploded for 64 points on 20 out of 25 two-point shots (80%), 5 out of 6 three-point attempts (83%), and 9 out of 10 free throws (90%), along with 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Black was pretty offensive-minded himself, popping in 59 points in a losing cause, 120–119 against Crispa. Bates would display an accurate jumper even from 3-point range, a muscular upper body to physically match up and intimidate the skinnier/taller opponents, and a mean game from the paint punctuated by his favorite arsenal, the slam-dunk.

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 for the third-rounder. 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 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.

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.