Lloyd Daniels

In October 2005, Daniels tried to revive his career by trying out with the Strong Island Sound of the American Basketball Association.

Later in his professional career, after dominating play in the CBA, the Raptors signed him to a ten-day contract and he scored 22 points in his first game with the team. Despite his obvious offensive skills, he was forever considered an off court risk and an undisciplined player, and could not find a permanent home in the NBA. Overall, Daniels played in 200 NBA games and scored 1,411 points. He played in Italy with Scavolini Pesaro in 1995/96 season with an average of 21.6 ppg.

Daniels managed to play intermittently over five seasons for six NBA teams: the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors. He had several shocking comebacks, including a stint with the Lakers for the 1994-95 season. Signed to a 10-day contract, he took over a tight game, scoring 20 points in the second half to lead the Lakers to victory. He ended up in the Lakers starting lineup for about 14 games that year after that outburst and finished the season with the team.

Daniels bounced around in the professional ranks for the next six years, and went through drug rehabilitation three times. In 1988, he was kicked off the Continental Basketball Association's Topeka Sizzlers for not staying in shape. He signed in New Zealand with Waitemata shortly after that, only to be thrown off the team for heavy drinking. On May 11, 1989, Daniels was shot three times in the chest and survived. He still has fragments of a bullet lodged in his right shoulder. He also played in the GBA (where he was named MVP in his only season) and the USBL, before playing in Greece with AEK Athens BC and in Turkey with Galatasaray. After Tarkanian was named head coach of the San Antonio Spurs for the 1992-93 season, Daniels signed with the Spurs as a free agent.

Daniels attended UNLV and was slated to play on the basketball team under coach Jerry Tarkanian. One of Tarkanian's assistants, Mark Warkentien, became Daniels' legal guardian, and got him admitted to Mt. San Antonio College, a junior college near Los Angeles, to improve his academics. However, on February 9, 1987, Daniels was arrested for buying crack cocaine from an undercover policeman. Although Tarkanian was known for taking in troubled players, this was too much even for him, and he announced days after the arrest that Daniels would never play for UNLV. It later emerged that Daniels had first been led to UNLV by Richard Perry, who had been convicted twice for sports bribery. Perry's involvement resulted in an NCAA investigation that ultimately forced Tarkanian to resign.

The 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) shooting guard was one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation during the 1986–87 recruiting cycle. At the time, he was considered the most talented player from New York City and was compared to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Connie Hawkins. According to authors John Valenti and Ron Naclerio, "Sweet Pea" was reputed to combine the passing ability of Magic Johnson with the shooting ability of Larry Bird. Daniels had attended four or five high schools in three states.

Lloyd Daniels (born September 4, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who played parts of five seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).