Stacey King, a three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls, who later spent two decades as a studio manager and color analyst for the team’s television broadcast, has died at age 59, the team announced Sunday.
No cause of death was given.
“Stacey King was a valued member of the Bulls family and one of the most unique individuals in the history of our organization,” Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “His connection to Chicago, the Bulls and our fans spanned more than three decades — first as a player and later as the articulate voice that helped bring Bulls basketball into the homes of generations of fans. We will miss him deeply and remember the joy, energy, humor, openness, and love he brought to our organization, our broadcasts, and our fans every day. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”
A native of Oklahoma, the 6-foot-11 King played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma from 1985-89. He helped the Sooners reach the NCAA national championship game in 1988, where they lost to Danny Manning and Kansas, and was named the Big 8 Player of the Year, a consensus First Team All-American and Sports Media Player of the Year in 1989. As a senior, he averaged 26 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3% shooting on 52 blocks.
The Bulls selected King with the No. 6 pick in the 1989 Draft, and he joined a team that would lose to the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. King appeared in all 82 games as a rookie, and was named to the 1990 All-Rookie second team after averaging 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds off the bench.
While King never lived up to the hype from his stellar college career or became a full-time starter with the Bulls, he was part of their rotation for each of their first three-peats from 1991-93.
King’s most memorable moment with the franchise, which symbolized his power in broadcasting, came after Michael Jordan scored a game-high 69 points in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in King’s rookie season. “I’ll always remember this as the night we hung out with Michael Jordan and scored 70 points,” King joked at the time.
At the 1994 trade deadline, during Jordan’s first retirement, the Bulls traded King to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Luc Longley and a second-round pick. King stayed with the Timberwolves until 1995, then played one season with the Miami Heat before appearing in a few games with the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks during the 1996-97 season.
“If I had been drafted by, say, the Clippers, I probably would have been an All-Star, scored a lot of points and never won anything,” King told ESPN in 2011. “And maybe I would have been frustrated because I want to win more than anything.”
After his NBA days, King played overseas in Turkey and Argentina, and had a brief stint with the Sioux Falls Skyforce — now the G League affiliate of the Miami Heat — then part of the Continental Basketball Association. King later coached the Rockford Lightning — another CBA team — and the Skyforce before joining the broadcasting ranks in 2006.
King was originally a studio analyst before becoming a color analyst. He worked with former Bulls legend Johnny “Red” Kerr, Tom Dore, Neil Funk and Adam Amin. King’s good demeanor and sense of humor made him a fan favorite in Chicago and earned him respect throughout the NBA.
“Honestly, in a nutshell, I’d say it’s something a fan says on the couch watching a Bulls game,” King told ESPN. “There’s a lot of energy, a lot of fun and some spontaneity trying to capture the moment. There’s been a lot of good moments this year; it’s been a lot of fun for me. When you have a good team that plays good basketball, it makes your job a lot easier.
“All my things are natural. I don’t write them down and say, ‘Let me say that.’ It’s fun and the fans take it out, but I treat my job as something of a commentator. That’s what I do before anything else.”
