Voshon Lenard: City Stupid In A Mountiain Setting 

Voshon Lenard is one of the few basketball players that have been arrested that are not true NBA thugs.  In fact, Voshon’s offense could more likely be called “reckless stupidity from a city boy” than “reckless discharge of a firearm”. It’s almost refreshing to revisit the Voshon Lenard tale in the midst of NBA stars arrested for kidnapping, rape and manslaughter.

Voshon Lenard doesn’t have the record of lifelong violence and substance abuse that so many basketball players have these days.  If anything, Lenard has a history of excess caution, on and off the court.  He was famous first for exercising a little known clause in the NBA draft rules about college eligibility.

He made himself available for the draft in this junior year of college in Minnesota and got selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of 1994’s draft picks.  In a surprise move he then returned to college at the University of Minnesota to finish his senior year and graduate.

Even after going back to college and graduating, he took his time returning to the NBA.  He chose instead to play in basketball’s equivalent of the minor leagues.  He signed on with the Oklahoma City Cavalry, a member of the Continental Basketball Association.  With the Cavalry for 18 months, he kept up a respectable 30 points per game average.

In 1996 he finally decided it was time to rejoin the world of NBA basketball, signing with the Miami Heat.  He stayed with the Heat the longest – a total of five seasons – before joining other teams. He has been a member of the Denver Nuggets and the Toronto Raptors.  He is currently playing for the Portland Trailblazers.

It was while playing with the Denver Nuggets that his arrest occurred.  It seems that while he was in his mountain home outside of Denver, deer began to bother him.  Instead of just ignoring the harmless creatures, he thought he’d shoot a warning shot into the air to try and scare them off.  He may have won the NBA All Star 3 Point Shootout three times, but he got no points for this shoot out.

It seems the only thing he scared was one of his neighbors.  She phoned police to report a man shooting outside her window, and Lenard was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm in city limits, as well as prohibited use of a weapon. Because the nature of the crime was more stupidity than violence, Lenard was released the same day with a court summons.

It seems that Denver attorneys decided to make an example out of Lenard’s star status and high visibility. Lenard’s attorney attempted to make a deal with the prosecutors for over a year after the 2002 arrest, postponing the court date 10 times while he bent over backward to accommodate them. The prosecutors were having none of it, and the case finally went to trial in 2002.

The results of his trial are not available for report. I can say that the only other time Lenard came up on the radar was in 2005.  His offense? Wearing his shorts too long on the court, punishable by fines and suspension for a brief time by the NBA.