'85 NBA Draft Revisited: Catching up with Xavier McDaniel

(Editor's note: This week, VICE Sports takes a look at some of the quirkier stories from the historic 1985 NBA Draft on its 30th-year anniversary. You can read the entire series here.)

In the glory days of the mid-80s and mid-90s, the NBA was defined not only by its superstars, but by a certain kind of player that NBA aficionados miss dearly: the tough guy with skills.

He was brutish to be sure, but not a stiff, not a guy whose sole roster purpose was to give hard fouls. He could shoot, pass, score, knock you on your ass, and wasn't above the occasional cheap shot or roundhouse if that's what was called for. You know the names: Oakley, Laimbeer, Mahorn, Starks, Ruland, and the best of them all, Xavier Maurice McDaniel.

"Xavier maximized his ability," says eminent basketball writer Bob Ryan, "He's pretty much the definition of a pro's pro."

In some ways, the Columbia, South Carolina native is a victim of steely notoriety, best remembered for his intimidating ways. The bald head, the scowl, the eyes that bugged out like a cartoon wolf when he was angry, the Wes Mathews chokehold. Make no mistake though, X-Man, the fourth overall pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1985, could flat-out play. His Sonics era mixtape isn't just dunks and sharp elbows, it's brimming with an array of moves. Sure, there's plenty of power crams, but also pull-up jumpers, shimmies, turnarounds, and even a sweeping Skyhook, redolent of that begoggled dude on the Los Angeles squad who bedeviled the Sonics.

"If you look at my first five years, I had Hall-of-Fame numbers," says McDaniel, 52, matter-of-factly. "I was right there with any forward in the league except Larry Bird, and he's Larry Bird."

Springfield may seem far-fetched, but X-Man's self-appraisal is fairly spot on. Here's how his numbers stacked up to three of the all-time greats:

Karl Malone 24.8/10.6/eFG% .523

Charles Barkley 22.2/12.1/eFG% .586

Chris Mullin 20.2/3.9/ eFG% .520 (also 3.9 apg)

Xavier McDaniel 20.7/7.0/ eFG% .497

McDaniel was a consensus first team All-American coming out of Wichita State. He was the first person in college basketball history to lead the nation in both scoring and rebounding in the same season, averaging 27/15 throughout his senior year. On draft night, he, along with everyone else in the world, knew Ewing was going first, but he says there was a real question as to who would go second.

"I was told anywhere from two-to-five and what's funny is we randomly sat down in the correct draft order," says McDaniel. "I wanted to go to Seattle, but I was so nervous. I didn't want to be at the draft, didn't want to be one of those guys sitting there waiting for my name to be called. Before the draft, I went out to dinner with my girlfriend and my agent David Falk called and said 'The Sonics traded the pick away.' My heart dropped. he said, 'No, I'm just messing with you.' It's gonna' be Seattle.'"

It didn't take long for X-Man's natural instincts to take over. Early on in training camp, journeyman Reggie King was grabbing and holding him. Coach Bernie Bickerstaff excoriated McDaniel to play like he did in high school and college.

"I talk about this with kids sometimes, and I don't agree with what I'm saying, but I did it, so it happened," says McDaniel. "To be the same player I was in college, I knocked King's ass out. I gave him a one-two-punch combination. For motivation."

Sonics fans loved X-Man's intensity and the future looked bright in Seattle. In McDaniel's second season, he, Tom Chambers, and Dale Ellis all averaged more than twenty a game and the upstarts reached the Western Conference Finals. They were swept by the soon-to-be-champion Lakers, but not without a hellacious battle between McDaniel, and his all-time toughest foe, James Worthy. Game three ended 122-121 with X-Man going for 42/10/4 to Big Game James's 39/5/5 in a losing effort.

"I'll never forget that game. He couldn't stop me, I couldn't stop him. Late in the game, we call time out and Coach calls a play for Dale Ellis, because 'he got us here,'" says McDaniel. "I said this is bullshit. I'm hot. Give me the ball, I guarantee I'll score. Post Worthy up, drop a turnaround on his ass. I was so pissed, I walked out the huddle. Dale's shot got blocked. We lost."

McDaniel was always a proud, feisty, heart-on-his-sleeve type of player and it wouldn't be the only time he knocked skulls with players, coaches, management, etc. In his estimation, however, it's because he's a total team guy, willing to do whatever you need, so long as it's in service of winning. He bolsters his case by pointing out that the year after he made the 1988 All-Star team, his lone appearance, he became the Sonics' sixth man.

X-Man's ego and passion boiled over here and there, but his willingness to get down-and-dirty, like in this spirited scrap with Charles Oakley, made him a cult hero in Seattle just as the city's cultural and coffee scene was exploding. Sub Pop and Starbucks, the Sonics and Singles. It doesn't get much more early 90s Emerald City than Campbell Scott in Singles using X-Man as orgasm prevention.

But sadly for Sonics diehards, by the time Singles came out, McDaniel was long gone. (Although, it wouldn't be X-Man's only Hollywood moment. In a random blue jersey, he appeared in a 1993 Married With Children episode titled, shit you not, "A Tisket, a Tasket, Can Peg make a Basket?" in which he threw Al Bundy through a hoop.) The promise of the '87 Western Conference Finals evaporated in a flash. The Sonics got beat by the Denver Nuggets in the first round in 1988 and Chambers was shipped out to the Suns. Phoenix is also where McDaniel would end up fifteen games into the 1990-91 season, not long after a bloody throw-down with Dale Ellis at team headquarters. It took multiple players to pull McDaniel off of Ellis.

"Ellis is injured, not even playing, kept talking about this is my team. Motherfucker, this the owner's team, Seattle's team, and you ain't even the best player on it," he says with more than a hint of old resentment. McDaniel says his only regret is playing for so many NBA teams, five in total, but it's obvious he never found another home like Seattle. "My second year, we had three guys averaging twenty apiece, and we're in the Western Conference Finals… I'm still frustrated with how that all went down."

McDaniel had knee surgery in May of 1988 to repair a torn meniscus and cartilage that he'd played on throughout the season. After the surgery, he was never again 100%. He only had one more noteworthy season, his 1991-92 campaign with the New York Knicks, which ended in a memorable seven-game Eastern Semis loss to the Bulls. It was one for the ages: McDaniel and Michael Jordan literally butting heads, Jordan famously uttering, "Fuck You, X." The Knicks front line of Ewing, Oakley, and X-Man looked prime for a title fight, but something went awry contract-wise, and he left, signing a three-year deal with the Celtics.

No telling if X would've helped the Knicks get over the MJ hump, but up in Boston, McDaniel's career wasn't the same. He wasn't a good fit for the post-Larry Bird franchise that was shaken by Reggie Lewis's tragic 1993 death. "I had 10,000 points in my first seven years, and 3,000 in the next five," McDaniel says. "Sometimes, as you age, people lose confidence in your skills and you get lost in the shuffle." In 1995-96, X-Man sent a year in Greece—played in the Greek Cup Finals—and then quietly finished up with two seasons on forgettable New Jersey Nets teams.

McDaniel feels he was slighted when it came to All-star appearances, All-NBAs, various other awards, but he's not bitter about it. Compared to a lot of grouchy old "the game was better when" farts, he's downright magnanimous. He's listed current guys rugged enough to play in his day, complimented today's players as being more athletic and multidimensional, and said he got fired up and emotional rooting for the Golden State Warriors because they haven't won in so long and have such loyal fans. After all, he gave his heart to a team that not only got bounced out by the Lakers year-after-year—don't get him started on the referees being swept up in it—but got bounced out of existence. McDaniel's equanimity even extends to the great punchline of the 1985 draft, Benoit Benjamin.

"I thought Ben was a great player, we had some amazing battles throughout college. He was at Creighton and we went head-to-head for years, really going after one another," he says. "I don't know what happened, but it didn't pan out. You have to be with the right organization, I had that in Seattle. I miss the Sonics, I really do."

The McDaniel basketball lineage is alive and well. His daughter Xylina averaged 11/6 during her sophomore season at the University of North Carolina, and his son Xavier Jr. is headed to prep school this fall, in hopes of playing college ball. Xavier's oldest daughter Alicia also attended the University of North Carolina and now works in healthcare, and he's got a seven-month old son, Max. "It's so tough," he says with a laugh, "I forgot everything I learned the first time."

In 2006, McDaniel was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. It may not be the pinnacle, but that's a state with a rich basketball tradition.

He's back in his home state of South Carolina these days, running 34 X Man LLC. McDaniel's company handles construction, maintenance, trucking, plumbing, electrical, janitorial, they even have some rental properties. Whatever you need.