Billy Ray Bates wasn’t just a basketball player. He was a force of nature. If you look at the raw Billy Ray Bates stats from his time in the NBA, you might think he was just a decent role player who fizzled out quickly. You'd see a guy who played 187 games and averaged about 11.7 points.
But you’d be dead wrong.
Numbers lie. Or, at the very least, they hide the truth when they aren't put into context. Billy Ray Bates owns some of the most absurd, "glitch-in-the-matrix" statistical anomalies in the history of professional basketball. We are talking about a guy who holds playoff records that Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Steph Curry haven't touched. Seriously.
The NBA Playoff Legend: Better than MJ?
Let’s get into the weird stuff first. Most players see their efficiency and scoring dip when the postseason starts. The defense gets tighter. The refs let more go. Bates? He turned into a literal god the moment the playoffs began.
In the 1980 playoffs with the Portland Trail Blazers, Bates averaged 25.0 points per game. He followed that up in 1981 by averaging 28.3 points per game. To this day, that 28.3 ppg remains a Blazers franchise record for a single playoff series. Think about that. Damian Lillard, Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton—none of them topped what Billy Ray did in those three games against Kansas City.
His career playoff average is 26.7 ppg.
That is the highest average in NBA history for any player who wasn't a primary starter. He did this while shooting 54.5% from the floor. He wasn't just volume-shooting; he was surgical. He was coming off the bench and basically becoming the best player on the court for 35 minutes a night.
Why the Regular Season Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
Honestly, the regular season Billy Ray Bates stats are kind of depressing if you don't know the backstory.
- 1979-80 (Portland): 11.3 ppg in just 14.7 minutes.
- 1980-81 (Portland): 13.8 ppg in 20.3 minutes.
- 1981-82 (Portland): 11.1 ppg.
You've probably noticed a pattern. His points-per-minute were astronomical. If you extrapolated his 1980 rookie stats to a standard 36-minute starter's workload, he was basically a 28-point scorer right out of the gate. But the NBA in the early 80s was a different beast. Coaches were wary of his "unstructured" style and his off-court reputation. He was a human microwave, but they wouldn't give him the kitchen.
The Philippine Explosion: Becoming "Black Superman"
When the NBA essentially moved on from Bates due to his struggles with substance abuse and discipline, he headed to the Philippines. This is where the stats go from "impressive" to "completely fictional-sounding."
In the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association), Bates joined the Crispa Redmanizers and later Ginebra San Miguel. He didn't just play well; he broke the league.
Basically, he averaged 46.2 points per game over his entire four-season career in the PBA.
Imagine a guy coming into a professional league and essentially scoring 50 points every other night. In 1987, playing for Ginebra, he averaged 54.9 ppg. That’s not a typo. He was a 6'4" guard with a linebacker's build and a 40-inch vertical. He could shoot the three before the three was a "thing" (hitting 42% in his first NBA stint) and he could shatter backboards—which he reportedly did four times in the CBA before even making the NBA.
A Look at the PBA Dominance
- 1983 Season (Crispa): 41.7 ppg, 10.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists.
- 1986 Season (Ginebra): 49.6 ppg, 13.5 rebounds.
- 1987 Season (Ginebra): 54.9 ppg.
His debut game in the Philippines saw him drop 64 points. He shot 20-of-25 from two-point range. That is 80% accuracy while being the focal point of the entire opposing defense. They called him "Black Superman," and for a few years in the 80s, he was arguably the most popular athlete in the entire country, eclipsing even local legends.
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The Tragedy of the "What If"
The real tragedy when looking at Billy Ray Bates stats is the "what if" factor. He had the physical tools of a modern-day shooting guard—strong, fast, and a deadeye shooter. But his NBA career lasted only about four years.
He had a brief 15-game cup of coffee with the Washington Bullets and an even shorter 4-game stint with the Lakers in 1983 where he barely played. By then, the spark was mostly gone. The discipline issues that kept him on the bench in Portland eventually pushed him out of the league entirely.
Experts like Jack Ramsay, who coached him in Portland, lamented that Bates was one of the greatest natural talents he’d ever seen but simply couldn't handle the professional rigors of the NBA.
Actionable Takeaways for Basketball Stat-Heads
If you’re researching Bates to settle a bar argument or just to understand basketball history, keep these specific points in mind:
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- Ignore the 11.7 Career Average: It's skewed by low minutes and his final year of decline. Look at his Per-36 minute stats to see the real player.
- The Playoff Record is Real: His 26.7 career playoff average is a legitimate statistical outlier that puts him in the top 10 all-time for PPG (if you ignore game-count minimums).
- The PBA Legend is the Core of His Legacy: You cannot talk about Billy Ray Bates without mentioning the Philippines. His 46.2 ppg career average there is the gold standard for "imports" in international basketball.
- Check the Efficiency: People assume "streetball" players are inefficient. Bates shot 47.4% for his NBA career and 54.5% in the playoffs. He was remarkably efficient for a guard of that era.
To truly understand the impact of Billy Ray Bates, you have to look past the spreadsheets. He was a player who thrived on energy and big moments, a man whose peak was higher than almost anyone's, even if it didn't last nearly long enough.
Next Steps for Your Research:
You should look up the 1981 Western Conference First Round box scores against the Kansas City Kings. Seeing his game-by-game progression from a bench player to a 34-point-per-night monster provides the best evidence of his untapped potential.