{"id":723067,"date":"2026-06-08T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T12:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723067\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T12:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T12:58:18","slug":"stacey-king-oklahoma-sooners-basketball-star-dies-at-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/723067\/","title":{"rendered":"Stacey King, Oklahoma Sooners basketball star, dies at 59"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stacey King, an Oklahoma Sooners basketball star and three-time NBA champion, died on Sunday according to the Chicago Bulls<\/a>. He was 59.<\/p>\n

No cause of death was given.<\/p>\n

The 6\u201910\u201d forward\/center from Lawton was a star at the University of Oklahoma under \u201cBilly Ball,\u201d the fast-paced, high scoring offense of coach Billy Tubbs.<\/p>\n

King was a consensus First-Team All-American as a senior in 1989, averaging 26 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. He was also named the Big 8 Player of the Year and Sporting News College Player of the Year that season.<\/p>\n

As a junior, he was one of the key players on a team that advanced to the NCAA national championship game, ultimately losing to the Kansas Jayhawks, 83-79.<\/p>\n

King finished his collegiate career as the sixth-highest scorer in OU history with 2,008 points, and the Big 8’s career leader in blocks with 228.<\/p>\n

His No. 33 jersey was hung from the Lloyd Noble Center rafters in 2008, the fourth OU men\u2019s basketball player to get the honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was about the funnest time I had playing basketball,\u201d King told The Oklahoman<\/a> in 2005. \u201cEven though I loved winning championships and being in the NBA, if they would have had a six- or seven-year plan, I would have stayed in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

King was taken No. 6 in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls, serving as a reserve player on the franchise\u2019s first three NBA titles between 1991 and 1993.<\/p>\n

\u201cStacey loved being a Bull,\u201d Michael Reinsdorf, president and CEO of the Bulls, said. \u201cYou could feel it in everything he did \u2013 the way he played, the way he called games and the way he connected with our fans. He had a unique gift for bringing people together and making every game feel personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over his eight year career, King averaged 6.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He also had stints in Minnesota, Miami, Boston and Dallas, and later played professionally in the CBA and internationally in Turkey and Argentina.<\/p>\n

After his playing days were over, King coached for four seasons in the CBA and was named the CBA Coach of the Year in 2001.<\/p>\n

Then, he found his calling as a basketball broadcaster for two decades, first as a studio analyst for Bulls pre- and post-game shows on CSN Chicago and later on Chicago Bulls television broadcasts as the lead color commentator.<\/p>\n

\u201cStacey King was a cherished member of the Bulls family and one of the truly unique personalities in our organization\u2019s history,\u201d Jerry Reinsdorf, Chicago Bulls chairman, said. \u201dHis connection to Chicago, the Bulls and our fans spanned more than three decades \u2013 first as a player and later as the unmistakable voice that helped bring Bulls basketball into the homes of generations of fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

King was known for his boisterous reactions, catchphrases and nicknames<\/a> during Bulls games. In announcing his death, the franchise called him \u201ca defining voice of Bulls basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We enjoy what we do,\u201d King said on his podcast<\/a> last month. \u201cIt’s a fun job. It never seems like work for me. Every night I go to work \u2013 win, lose or draw \u2013 I’m havin’ fun.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stacey King, an Oklahoma Sooners basketball star and three-time NBA champion, died on Sunday according to the Chicago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-723067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}