CLEVELAND _ After waiting 1,425 days to make another start in the NBA, DeAndre Liggins couldn't wait any longer. He charged onto the court at Madison Square Garden for the opening tip against the New York Knicks earlier this month and took his rightful place alongside LeBron James and the rest of the Cavs starters.
There was only one problem: He forgot to take off his warm-up jersey. Liggins was at midcourt before he realized the gaffe, but it's easy to see how he could trip over such trivial details. Given the road he has traveled, Liggins rightfully wondered whether he'd ever get a second chance in the NBA.
"This is enormous to me," he said about an hour before the game against the Knicks. "I'm going to go out, compete, play hard and do what's asked of me. But yeah, this is a big deal."
Liggins was a spot starter that night because J.R. Smith was dealing with a sore knee. Now that Smith will be out for an extended period with a fractured right thumb, he is again the Cavs' starting shooting guard for the foreseeable future. No one could've predicted that even six months ago, when he remained in basketball purgatory.
Liggins has lived in exile the past three years, punishment for heinous domestic violence allegations in August 2013 stemming from a dispute with the mother of his young son. Liggins' ex-girlfriend, Jasmine Horton, told Oklahoma City police that he kicked in the bedroom door and pushed her down, dropped a fan on her, stomped on her and dropped an Xbox on her head _ all in the presence of their 2-year-old.
Horton had bruising on her chest, scratches on her back and injuries to her arm and fingers, according to the Oklahoma City officer who wrote the affidavit. Weeks before he was set to attend training camp with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Liggins was instead arrested and charged with seven felonies including kidnapping, domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Within a week, he was released by the Thunder.
Liggins believes his original attorney compounded his problems. He said he wasn't supposed to have any contact with his ex at the time, but his first attorney arranged for the two to meet. Liggins says when the prosecution found out about it, they piled on more charges. Shortly after, he fired his attorney.
When Horton refused to cooperate with prosecutors, however, the charges against Liggins and his friend, Marcus Rogers, who was also present at the time of the incident, were dismissed. Liggins' second attorney, Tony Coleman, and Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater did not return calls to the Beacon Journal for this story.
Liggins pled guilty to one count of domestic abuse. He was ordered to make a $5,000 donation to a diversion program and he avoided any prison time.
"We're better. We're better people," Liggins said of himself and Horton. "We communicate. We co-parent. We talk. She still goes to counseling. I go to counseling. ... We're not together, but we communicate better and everything has worked out."
