The usual upbeat intro to trumpet the distribution of the Sunday Best around-the-league notes has been scrapped on this occasion. For deeply sad reasons.
A somber tone has gripped the eve of a momentous Game 3 in the NBA Finals after we learned Sunday that beloved Chicago Bulls broadcaster Stacey King, who played on three Bulls championship teams before moving into the booth, has died at age 59.
Marc Stein@TheSteinLine
Impossibly sad. Stacey King was a beloved broadcaster who helped the Bulls win three titles as a player and then forged an even stronger connection with the team’s fans and the community with his passion and personality in the booth.
CHGO Bulls @CHGO_Bulls
We are heartbroken.
RIP to the legend, Stacey King.
5:58 PM · Jun 7, 2026 · 78.2K Views
2 Replies · 49 Reposts · 767 Likes
The Finals resume Monday night and the NBA Draft is just two weeks and change away, but it was impossible not to be thinking of King if you were thinking about basketball.
I have assembled all of my latest around-the-league Intel below, but I realize you might prefer to hear more about King and his connection to the Bulls and their fans after some two decades on their broadcast team. Here are my dear CHGO Bulls colleagues paying tribute to King in podcast form:
Veteran players dread the moment they are faced with signing a minimum contract after playing on more lucrative deals earlier in their careers. And justifiably so.
It’s because they know it is really hard, once a player slips into veteran minimum territory, to drag themselves up out of it.
Yet we’re all watching it happen in real time in these NBA Finals with New York’s Landry Shamet.