Vernon Maxwell has never been one to shy away from a fight—on or off the court. His time with the San Antonio Spurs in the late 1980s was filled with altercations, especially in the city’s nightlife.
While appearing on the All The Smoke podcast, Maxwell opened up about the numerous fights he got into at clubs and how Gregg Popovich secretly hired a private investigator to monitor him in an attempt to stop his brawling ways.
“That s**t is true. But that’s what I was going back to when I was saying motherf***ers were saying, like, ‘Hey man, I was fighting everybody in San Antonio,’ because every time I turned around, these suck-ass n****s just wanted to try me. Just because I played ball and was in the NBA.”
“I was 22, a young boy just trying to make a living, you know? And they ain’t paying me no money… I’m like, goddamn, these n****s keep trying me. So every time I walk out of the club, or while I’m in the club, there’s always some n***a coming up to me like, ‘Hey man, that n***a wanna fight you, man. He really wanna try you.’”
“I say, ‘What’s going on?’ He says, ‘The n***a just wanna fight.’ I say, ‘Well goddamn it, I like to fight. So tell him to lace up.’”
“Well, when I walk out, if he walk out behind me, tell him goddamn it, I’m gonna get him, I’m gonna skin him. I kept fighting and fighting because they just kept testing me. And then Pop pulled me aside and told me, ‘Max, you gotta stay out of these goddamn clubs. You almost killed a kid last night.’”
“I said, ‘Yeah, I picked him up and slammed him straight on the s**t. Fell right with him. Bam.’ Pop said, ‘You gotta stop this s**t, n***a. You fighting like you a street n***a. Do not go out no more. If you go out ever again while you here, I’m getting rid of you.’”
“Now, he ain’t never say he was putting a PI on me, but motherf***er put a PI on me and s**t. And then motherf***er called me the next day, said, ‘Hey, bring your a** in here early in the morning. I got the footage.’”
“I come in, he says, ‘This you?’ I said, ‘You goddamn right.’ He said, ‘Alright, go home and pack your s**t. By the end of the day, I’m gonna have your a** somewhere else.’
“I said, ‘Okay, cool.’ Shit, I was scared as a motherf***er, though. Scared as s**t. I didn’t know where the f**k I was gonna go. I said, ‘Goddamn, I ain’t think I did enough for a motherf***er to even want me.’”
“I was like, ‘What, did I do anything? Goddamn, I ain’t average but 13, and we 21-61 last year. Shit, I’m f***ed up in this motherf***er. I just hope somebody pick my black a** up.’”
“So then I started thinking, ‘Damn, who I was killing this year? Who I been killing?’ And then motherf***ers called me and said the Houston Rockets want you. I was like, ‘Oh lord.’”
“They sending me to all these motherf***ing black folk. I couldn’t wait. That’s when I knew I was gonna take off. It was a blessing for me.”
Maxwell, just 22 years old at the time, was playing for the Spurs in the 1989-90 season. He was young, wild, and always ready to throw hands.
According to him, locals constantly tried to challenge him simply because he was an NBA player, leading to frequent fights outside clubs. Eventually, his behavior caught the attention of Popovich, who was an assistant coach with the Spurs at the time.
Maxwell admitted he was scared as hell because the Spurs had just finished 21-61 the previous season, and he was only averaging 12.7 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game.
He didn’t think his play had been strong enough to warrant interest from other teams. But then, he got the news that the Houston Rockets wanted him, and everything changed.
Traded to the Rockets in 1990, Maxwell took off in Houston. His scoring increased dramatically, and he became known for his fearless, aggressive style of play. In his first full season with the Rockets (1990-91), he averaged 17.0 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game, cementing himself as a key piece of the team’s core.
Over the next few years, Maxwell became one of the NBA’s best defensive guards and clutch shooters, earning the nickname “Mad Max” for his relentless energy and fiery personality. His most notable moment came in the 1994 NBA Finals, where he played a crucial role in helping the Rockets win their first-ever NBA championship.
In Game 7 against the Knicks, Maxwell scored 21 points, including several big shots in the second half, proving that the trade from San Antonio had been a blessing in disguise.
In the end, Popovich’s secret plan to stop Maxwell from fighting may not have worked, but it did indirectly push him into the best situation of his career.
Houston embraced his toughness, and he rewarded them by becoming a key player in their championship run. Looking back, Maxwell’s chaotic time in San Antonio ended up being the perfect setup for his rise in Houston, where he truly became a legend.
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