On Monday’s edition of Inside the NBA, ahead of the Game 2 matchup between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons, we got a positive update of sorts on Bates. Ernie Johnson issued a live apology to Bates’ family on behalf of the entire Inside the NBA cast for the previous night’s comments regarding the former NBA player, who is indeed still alive. “We would like to issue a correction and an apology for something that happened last night on Inside the NBA. We were talking about Billy Ray Bates, who back in 1980, had one of the NBA’s best playoff debuts coming off the bench with 29 points. In the course of our discussion, we passed on some bad information that Billy Ray Bates had passed away. While it was inadvertent, it was also inaccurate, and insensitive, and inexcusable. In short, we screwed up. And we apologize to Billy Ray Bates and his family.”