Ex-neighbors accuse Bynum of pot use, loud music and apple-throwing in lawsuit

ANDREW BYNUM hasn't stepped foot on the basketball court in Philly. But he's spent plenty of time in court in California.

The new Sixers center, sidelined by a knee injury, is feuding with his former West Coast next-door neighbors over his alleged loud music, unleashed dogs, marijuana use and fast cars. TMZ first reported their dueling lawsuits, filed last summer, Thursday morning.

Bynum says Ray and Cindy Beckett, who have since moved away, harassed him because they're racist.

The Becketts say Bynum is "a great basketball player and a terrible neighbor who presumes that being an NBA All-Star entitles him to party like a rock star in the otherwise quiet Westchester neighborhood where he lives."

Bynum, 25, and his mother, Janet McCoy, sued first in June in Los Angeles Superior Court, complaining that the Becketts constantly harassed them because they objected to Bynum's "profession, his race, his friends, his cars and his taste in music," according to the lawsuit. Bynum moved into his home in Westchester, a western suburb of Los Angeles, in 2005.

Among his claims: Ray Beckett threw coins at Bynum's red Ferrari, scratching the paint, frequently banged on Bynum's home with a long stick, shined a flashlight into his house, called the Lakers to complain about Bynum and verbally harassed him and his mother when they were outside.

The Becketts countersued in July, calling Bynum's suit "a preemptive strike" because he knew they might sue.

Among their claims: Bynum threatened them with guns, threw apples at them, dangerously raced his luxury cars through neighborhood streets, allowed his marijuana smoke to drift into their back yard and played "extremely profane" music at "window-shaking volumes" with such lyrics as "I'm not a five-dolla' n-----, I'm a billion-dollar entity. All I chase is money, only bad b----es interest me."

Such behavior dented the Becketts' property value, because, "Who in their right mind would choose a neighbor who behaves like Bynum?" the couple wrote in their countersuit.

The Becketts said they repeatedly reported Bynum to the Los Angeles Police Department and installed $10,000 in central air-conditioning to drown out "Bynum's ongoing racket."

Attorney David C. Voss, who represents the Becketts, and attorney Jeremy B. Kline, who represents Bynum and his mother, didn't return calls for comment.

Bynum, who played six seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers, was traded to the Sixers before the current season.

A bone bruise on his right knee had kept him off the court, but doctors were expected to clear him to play by Dec. 10. Instead, he hurt his left knee while bowling three weeks ago, and Sixers general manager Tony DiLeo announced last weekend that he's out indefinitely.