Fan Expo Canada – 5 players who dressed up like Toronto Raptors
By Chris Mckee
Lloyd Daniels 1997-98
Daniels was a New York City street-ball legend. People said he was the most talented player from New York since a young Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
The 1990 book Swee’ Pea about Daniels life was made into a movie back in 2015.
According to the book Swee’ Pea:
"After playing for five New York high schools, he was set to attend UNLV, but a drug arrest in JUCO derailed his career, spiralling him in and out of rehab and from one minor league pro team to another. He finally reached the NBA at an older than-his years 25 — a shadow of his former self. He was playing by then with bullet fragments still stuck in his body, there from a 1989 cocaine deal gone bad in which he was shot three times in the chest."
Daniels couldn’t read at a grade three level, yet was still offered a scholarship to play at UNLV for the Runnin’ Rebels.
He played for five teams in the NBA before he ended up with the Raptors in the 1997-98 season.
His time in Toronto ended up being his final stop in the league.
He played just six games for Toronto and averaged 5.7 points per game, but with a track record like Daniels you wonder how he ended up in the NBA at all.