Pablo S. Torre wrote a long feature for ESPN The Magazine that makes the bold contention that the Philadelphia 76ers are planning to win basketball games at some point. Tucked in the piece was this anecdote about the time Andrew Bynum forgot to remove the nozzle from his gas tank at a gas station.
Andrew Bynum once drove through Philadelphia with a gas nozzle stuck in his Ferrari
The fact that Andrew Bynum didn’t notice may be the highlight of his time as a 76er.
Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
One day, memorably, the rehabbing big man parked next to Aaron Barzilai, DiLeo’s newly hired director of basketball analytics, in the parking lot of the team facility at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. As Bynum shuffled inside, Barzilai noticed something on their would-be star’s custom black Ferrari and called after him. Bynum, it turned out, had driven away from a gas station without removing the pump’s nozzle and eight- foot rubber hose, which he’d dragged, pythonlike, through the street.
Bynum somehow couldn’t feel the pull of the hose as he left the station, and did not get flagged down by a police officer or passerby as he drove. Then, he parked his car and entered the Sixers’ facility without noticing anything.
After going to Philadelphia in a blockbuster trade, Bynum did not play a single game of the 2012-13 season, and at one point had to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery due to a bowling-related injury. The season probably won’t be remembered too fondly by Bynum or the team.
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