Spencer Haywood
American former professional basketball player, Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer whose Supreme Court case ended the NBA's four-year rule
Spencer Haywood (American former professional basketball player, Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer whose Supreme Court case ended the NBA's four-year rule) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include Haywood v. National Basketball Association, NBA expansion, National Basketball Players Association.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Haywood v. National Basketball Association
Haywood believes a brief Detroit Pistons tryout that ended after one day was retaliation for his earlier lawsuit.
“they gave me one day of practice and said, oh, you're out of here”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 58:01
Haywood estimates that NBA players have earned $67 billion since 1971 as a result of his ruling.
“The number was $67 billion from 1971 until today”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 34:28
Haywood says the Supreme Court found his case to be an example of antitrust violation that barred stopping someone from earning a living.
“this is a prime example of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which meant that you cannot stop a person from making a living in America”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 10:54
Haywood recounts that the NBA, NCAA and ABA tried to break his spirit while his case moved through the courts.
“the league, the NC2A, and the ABA was fighting to break my spirit”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 7:37
Haywood says his Denver Rockets contract deferred most of his pay to late in life, which he considered fraudulent.
“the contract would read that you would get $100,000 per year, and then the rest would be on the back end”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 5:37
NBA expansion
- Prediction · due Jul 2028
Haywood predicts LeBron James will play in the 2028 Olympics and then join the new Las Vegas team with his sons.
“He's going to play in 28, and then he's going to come here to Las Vegas, play with his sons”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 48:54
Haywood credits his ruling with enabling the NBA to expand from 14 to 30 teams by opening access to younger players.
“from that case, we were able to expand from 14 teams to 30 teams because all of a sudden you had young players who wasn't staying in college”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 10:04
Other remarks
Haywood argues that today's NBA players are better than those of his era, running far more.
“these guys are running double the amount of mileage that we ran during the time we were playing”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 48:00
Haywood says Michael Jordan runs a program providing free health care in the Carolinas.
“He's got this health care program down in Carolina where he's giving free health care to all the Carolinians”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 41:12
National Basketball Players Association
Haywood says LeBron James cursed at him at a board meeting, and he confronted James about it afterward.
“why would you talk to me such harsh ways and I paved the way for you?”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 36:30
Haywood says Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ended the players' snub of him by asking why they were still punishing him after he won.
“He said, he won the case, man. Why are we still punishing him?”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 12:49
Name, image and likeness rights in college sports
Haywood objects to easy college transfers, arguing players who hop teams miss out on life lessons.
“you don't get a chance to go through any life lessons when you do that”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 29:07
Haywood says he recently lobbied lawmakers in Washington on NIL, which he considers an outgrowth of his ruling.
“Recently, I had to go to Washington, D.C. to speak to the senators and to the head of the House”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 26:46
Addiction and recovery
Haywood recounts that cocaine use during his Lakers tenure left his hands numb and hurt his coordination.
“They were numb, right? They were just numb and it was like I didn't have my coordination”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 55:05
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
Haywood says he was initially embarrassed by his portrayal in the series but came to accept it as truthful.
“Then I watched it and watched it over and over and I said, I'm not mad. It's just me telling the truth”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 51:46
Psychotherapy
Haywood says he began therapy about 42 years ago and urged other players to try it.
“When I started going into therapy like 42 years ago, everybody, I was excited, man”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 39:38
Jim Crow laws
Haywood attributes the lack of recognition from Black players to a lingering slave mentality.
“Because we still tend to hover around the slave mentality”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 35:37
NCAA amateurism
Haywood contends that NCAA schools, as nonprofits, had to spend revenue but were barred from spending it on players.
“So they have to spend the money, but they can't spend the money on the labor”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 4:45
NBA four-year eligibility rule
Haywood argues that the four-year rule was causing the league to lose many players before they could turn professional.
“that was my argument when I was fighting all the way to the Supreme Court is that we were losing so many players waiting on the four-year rule”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:48
Predictions
1 pending
- Prediction · due Jul 2028
Haywood predicts LeBron James will play in the 2028 Olympics and then join the new Las Vegas team with his sons.
“He's going to play in 28, and then he's going to come here to Las Vegas, play with his sons”
Digital Social Hour: He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955 (May 8, 2026) · Listen from 48:54 · NBA expansion
Appearances
He Took the NBA to the Supreme Court... & Won... | Spencer Haywood | DSH #1955Digital Social Hour · May 8, 2026 · 1 h 4 min
Basketball Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood tells Sean Kelly about his Supreme Court fight against the NBA, 1968 Olympic gold, racism, addiction, therapy and family.
Often appears with
- Sean Kelly · 1 shared episode