Two days after being arrested for murder in Dallas, Nickey Maxwell Van Exel is a free man whose lawyer claims murder is a harsh term for "horseplay." Bail was originally $1 million; NMVE only had to post $25,000.

Dallas police have arrested Nickey Maxwell Van Exel, 20, in the shooting death of Bradley Eyo. [Dallas Observer]

"I went into the NBA as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I could get," Alex says. "I loved the game. I didn't want to taint it." Of course, that was before Alex did all those "bad, bad, bad" things.

In January 1997, the Lakers' Nick Van Exel handed out 23 assists in a 95-82 victory over Vancouver, a feat less attributable to his sharpshooting teammates than to the numbers-fudging Lakers fan working the Grizzlies' scorer's table.