This article is missing information about King's early life and high school basketball career .(June 2024) |
![]() King with the Tennessee Volunteers c. 1976 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | December 4, 1956
Listed height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Fort Hamilton (Brooklyn, New York) |
College | Tennessee (1974–1977) |
NBA draft | 1977: 1st round, 7th overall pick |
Selected by the New York Nets | |
Playing career | 1977–1993 |
Position | Small forward |
Number | 22, 30 |
Career history | |
1977–1979 | New Jersey Nets |
1979–1980 | Utah Jazz |
1980–1982 | Golden State Warriors |
1982–1987 | New York Knicks |
1987–1991 | Washington Bullets |
1993 | New Jersey Nets |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Career NBA statistics | |
Points | 19,655 (22.5 ppg) |
Rebounds | 5,060 (5.8 rpg) |
Assists | 2,863 (3.3 apg) |
Stats at NBA.com | |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Basketball Hall of Fame as player |
Bernard King (born December 4, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player at the small forward position in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 14 seasons with the New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Washington Bullets. King is a four-time NBA All-Star, four-time All-NBA selection and led the NBA in scoring in the 1984–85 season. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8, 2013. [1] His younger brother, Albert, also played in the NBA during his career.
King attended college at the University of Tennessee and played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers. The New York Nets selected King with the seventh overall pick in the 1977 NBA draft, [2] Months later, the Nets relocated from Uniondale, New York, to New Jersey and became known as the New Jersey Nets.
In 1977–78, his rookie season, King set a New Jersey Nets franchise record for most points scored in a season with 1,909, at 24.2 points per game. For his efforts, he was named to the NBA all-rookie first team and placed third in NBA Rookie of the Year voting, behind Walter Davis and Marques Johnson. [3] He would surpass this record with his 2,027-point season in 1983–84, earning the first of his back-to-back All-NBA First Team selections.
King played for the Utah Jazz in the 1979–80 season and averaged 9.3 points per game in 19 games.
The Jazz traded King to the Golden State Warriors before the 1980–81 season. Over two years, he averaged 21.9 points per game, in his first year playing alongside players such as 1980 NBA All-Star World B. Free, Joe Barry Carroll, and Clifford Ray and 23.2 points per game in his second year with the team. Just before the start of the 1982–83 season, King was traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for Micheal Ray Richardson.
On a Texas road trip on January 31 and February 1, 1984, King made history by becoming the first player since Rick Barry in 1967 to score at least 50 points in consecutive games. He scored 50 points on 20 for 30 shooting with 10 free throws in a 117–113 Knicks' victory over the San Antonio Spurs on January 31. King followed this with another 50-point performance at Dallas, setting a Reunion Arena single-game scoring record in the process. He scored 11 points in both the first and second quarters and 14 points in both the third and fourth quarters. King drew 13 fouls on Dallas Mavericks defenders, including Mark Aguirre, who fouled out. King shot 20 for 28 from the field with 10 free throws in the 105–98 win over the Mavericks. [4] [5]
The next season, on Christmas Day, 1984, King lit up the New Jersey Nets for 60 points in a losing effort, becoming just the tenth player in NBA history to score 60 or more points in a single game. King had scored 40 points by halftime, and finished the game with 19 of 30 shooting from the field and 22 of 26 from the free throw line. [6]
At the peak of his career, however, King suffered a devastating injury to his right leg [1] while planting it under the hoop attempting to block a dunk by Kansas City King Reggie Theus. The March 23, 1985, injury, which included a torn anterior cruciate ligament, torn knee cartilage, and broken leg bone, [7] required major reconstruction, causing King to miss all of the 1985–86 season. To that point no NBA player had returned to form after such a potentially career-ending injury, surgery, and loss of time.
Rehabilitating completely out of the media spotlight, King drove himself back into competitive shape. Despite averaging 22.7 points per game during his first six games back, he had not recovered his pre-injury explosiveness and was released by the Knicks at the end of the 1987 season.
King spent the 1987–88 season climbing back to his former stature as a scorer with the Washington Bullets. That season, during which King, fellow all-star journeyman Moses Malone, and Jeff Malone teamed up to form a formidable trio, would be the only time Washington made the playoffs during King's tenure. In the first round, the Bullets lost a contested five-game series 3–2 against the up-and-coming Detroit Pistons, who would go on to make the NBA Finals. [8]
On November 3, 1990, King scored 44 points in a win over Michael Jordan and the Bulls, which was the most points King had scored in a game since his devastating 1985 knee injury. [9] On December 29, in a game against the Denver Nuggets, King scored a season high 52 points in a 161–133 victory. It was the most points a Washington player had scored since the team moved from Baltimore in 1972. [10] That season, King was selected to his fourth all-star team.
From 1989 to 1991, King averaged 20-plus points in three consecutive seasons. His scoring average peaked at 28.4 points per game at age 34 in 1991, which included ten games where King scored more than 40 points. [11]
After a year-and-a-half hiatus due to yet another knee injury, King returned for a 32-game stint with the New Jersey Nets at the end of the 1992–93 season, until knee problems forced him to retire from the NBA permanently. [12] [13]
At 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and 205 pounds, King was an explosive, high-scoring small forward utilizing long arms and a quick release. King was a tremendous scorer, and led the NBA in scoring in the 1984–85 season with 32.9 points per game.
King retired with 19,655 points in 874 games, good for a 22.5 points per game average and number 16 on the all-time NBA scoring list at the time of his retirement.
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
* | Led the league |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977–78 | New Jersey | 79 | — | 39.1 | .479 | — | .677 | 9.5 | 2.4 | 1.5 | .5 | 24.2 |
1978–79 | New Jersey | 82 | — | 34.9 | .522 | — | .564 | 8.2 | 3.6 | 1.4 | .5 | 21.6 |
1979–80 | Utah | 19 | — | 22.1 | .518 | — | .540 | 4.6 | 2.7 | .4 | .2 | 9.3 |
1980–81 | Golden State | 81 | — | 36.0 | .588 | .333 | .703 | 6.8 | 3.5 | .9 | .4 | 21.9 |
1981–82 | Golden State | 79 | 77 | 36.2 | .566 | .200 | .705 | 5.9 | 3.6 | 1.0 | .3 | 23.2 |
1982–83 | New York | 68 | 68 | 32.5 | .528 | .000 | .722 | 4.8 | 2.9 | 1.3 | .2 | 21.9 |
1983–84 | New York | 77 | 76 | 34.6 | .572 | .000 | .779 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 1.0 | .2 | 26.3 |
1984–85 | New York | 55 | 55 | 37.5 | .530 | .100 | .772 | 5.8 | 3.7 | 1.3 | .3 | 32.9* |
1986–87 | New York | 6 | 4 | 35.7 | .495 | — | .744 | 5.3 | 3.2 | .3 | .0 | 22.7 |
1987–88 | Washington | 69 | 38 | 29.6 | .501 | .167 | .762 | 4.1 | 2.8 | .7 | .1 | 17.2 |
1988–89 | Washington | 81 | 81 | 31.6 | .477 | .167 | .819 | 4.7 | 3.6 | .8 | .2 | 20.7 |
1989–90 | Washington | 82 | 82 | 32.8 | .487 | .130 | .803 | 4.9 | 4.6 | .6 | .1 | 22.4 |
1990–91 | Washington | 64 | 64 | 37.5 | .472 | .216 | .790 | 5.0 | 4.6 | .9 | .3 | 28.4 |
1992–93 | New Jersey | 32 | 2 | 13.4 | .514 | .286 | .684 | 2.4 | .6 | .3 | .1 | 7.0 |
Career | 874 | 547 | 33.7 | .518 | .172 | .730 | 5.8 | 3.3 | 1.0 | .3 | 22.5 | |
All-Star | 4 | 1 | 21.0 | .474 | — | .692 | 4.3 | 2.3 | .8 | .5 | 11.3 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | New Jersey | 2 | — | 40.5 | .500 | — | .417 | 5.5 | 3.5 | 2.0 | .0 | 26.0 |
1983 | New York | 6 | — | 30.7 | .577 | .333 | .800 | 4.0 | 2.2 | .3 | .0 | 23.5 |
1984 | New York | 12 | — | 39.8 | .574 | .000 | .756 | 6.2 | 3.0 | 1.2 | .5 | 34.8 |
1988 | Washington | 5 | 4 | 33.6 | .491 | — | .810 | 2.2 | 1.8 | .6 | .0 | 13.8 |
1993 | New Jersey | 3 | 1 | 8.0 | .571 | — | — | .3 | .0 | .3 | .0 | 2.7 |
Career | 28 | 5 | 33.4 | .559 | .250 | .729 | 4.3 | 2.3 | .9 | .2 | 24.5 |
At the age of 24, King won the NBA Comeback Player of the Year Award for his play during the 1980–1981 season with the Golden State Warriors. That year, King averaged 21.9 points per game after having played just 19 games the season before with the Utah Jazz. [5] [14]
On February 13, 2007, Bernard King's number 53 was retired at the halftime of the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game at Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. [15] His jersey number was the first jersey number retired by the Volunteers, who later retired the number of Ernie Grunfeld, King's former teammate. The late 1970s Tennessee men's basketball team was known as the "Ernie and Bernie Show" (in reference to Grunfeld and King) and is viewed by many as the golden age of UT men's basketball. During an ESPN interview after halftime, King stated he had not returned to the University of Tennessee in more than 30 years, but expressed his sincere appreciation to the university and his plans to return again. His reason for not visiting his alma mater was simply that he had not been asked. King's ceremony punctuated an 89–85 Tennessee victory over the visiting Wildcats. [16]
During the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, a panel of basketball analysts for the TNT network selected Bernard King as one of nominees of the "Next 10", a list of 10 unofficial additions to the NBA's 50 greatest players list in honor of the NBA's 60th anniversary. [17]
In 2013, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with inductees such as Rick Pitino and Gary Payton. [18]
King is now working as a part-time broadcaster for NBA TV as well as the MSG Network, filling in on some occasions as color commentator when Walt Frazier is on vacation.[ citation needed ]
King made an appearance in Miami Vice as Matt Ferguson, son of Judge Roger Ferguson (played by Bill Russell), a basketball star with the fictitious Florida Sunblazers in the episode "The Fix". He also appeared in the 1979 movie Fast Break (with Reb Brown).
In July 1977, a month after being drafted by the Nets, King was arrested and charged with burglary for breaking into a UT athletics building to steal a television set. [19] He had earlier been suspended from the Tennessee team after being arrested for marijuana possession (later acquitted), drunk driving, and resisting arrest (all later dropped), [20] which stemmed from an arrest after police were called by a woman who said a man was trying to break into her apartment, and upon arrival they found King in the hallway. [21]
In December 1978, King was arrested by the NYPD while sleeping in his car with "less than $10 worth" of cocaine on hand, and was charged with several misdemeanors, later dropped. [22]
In January 1980, King was arrested in Salt Lake City after complaint of forcible sexual assault by a woman. [23] Facing a possible 10-year sentence, he took multiple lie detector tests to support his assertion that he had been so intoxicated he had no recollection of the events in question. [24] [25] That June, he would plead guilty to a reduced charge of attempted forcible sexual abuse, and received a fine and suspended sentence. [26]
In his 2017 autobiography, King would say that he battled alcohol addiction in the late 1970s, and that it was "the darkest period of my life". [27] Following his early-1980 arrest, he spent a month at a California rehab center, and then sought help through Alcoholics Anonymous. [20]
After his playing career was over, more troubles followed. In August 1994, an intoxicated King was arrested in New York and charged with assaulting a 22-year-old woman in his apartment, after allegedly grabbing her around the neck in an altercation (for which she was treated for bruises at a local hospital). [28] [29] In October 2004, King was again arrested in New York for battery of his wife Shana, who told authorities he had pushed her to the ground three times; the incident left her black and blue with bruises on her eye and swelling on her forehead. [30] [31] The charges were dropped after King agreed to marriage counseling sessions, [32] but the incident cost King a promotional relationship with local property developer Bruce Ratner, [33] as well as resulting in his name being removed as an honoree of the Brooklyn Public Library. [34]
Vernon Earl Monroe is an American former professional basketball player. He played for two teams, the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks, during his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Both teams have retired Monroe's number. Due to his on-court success and flashy style of play, Monroe was given the nicknames "Black Jesus" and "Earl the Pearl". Monroe was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. In 1996, Monroe was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, and in 2021, Monroe was named as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
Alonzo Harding Mourning Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who has served as vice president of player programs and development for the Miami Heat since June 2009. Mourning played most of his 15-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career for the Heat.
Jason Frederick Kidd is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards of all time, Kidd was a 10-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA First Team member, and a nine-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. He won an NBA championship in 2011 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks and was a two-time gold medal winner in the Olympics with the U.S. national team in 2000 and 2008. He was inducted as a player into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In October 2021, Kidd was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Keith Adam Van Horn is an American former professional basketball player. Van Horn played for the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Willis Reed Jr. was an American professional basketball player, coach, and general manager. He spent his entire ten-year pro playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Reed was a seven-time NBA All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection, including once on the first team in 1970, when he was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was a two-time NBA champion and was voted the NBA Finals MVP both times. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named to both the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams.
Robert Allen McAdoo Jr. is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975. He won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s. In 2000, McAdoo was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
Kenyon Lee Martin Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a power forward, he played for the New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA, and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of China. He played college basketball for the Cincinnati Bearcats and was named the national college player of the year during his senior season. Martin was drafted with the first overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets. He was an NBA All-Star in 2004.
Robert Terrell Cummings is an American former professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Cummings was voted Rookie of the Year and was a two-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection and was a lead player on several postseason teams while in Milwaukee and San Antonio.
Peter Kelly Tripucka is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1991. He was a two-time NBA All Star and averaged over twenty points a game in five of the ten seasons that he played in. Tripucka played for the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz and was a member of the Charlotte Hornets during their inaugural season in the NBA. The son of NFL Pro-Bowl quarterback Frank Tripucka, Kelly was a color analyst for the New York Knicks for four years, ending with the 2011–12 season.
Anthony George Douglas Mason was an American professional basketball player. In his 13-year career he played with the New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. He averaged 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in his 13-year NBA career. Mason earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1995 and led the NBA in minutes played in the following two seasons. In 1997, he was named to the All-NBA Third Team and the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. He was selected to the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. Mason was a member of the 1993-1994 New York Knicks team that reached the NBA Finals.
Ernest Grunfeld is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player and former general manager in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college at the University of Tennessee, he set a new record as the school's all-time leading scorer. He won gold medals with Team USA at the 1975 Pan American Games and the 1976 Summer Olympics. He began his professional career as a player with the Milwaukee Bucks. He served as General Manager of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association from 1989 to 1999, and as the Bucks General Manager from 1999 to 2003, and then became the president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards from 2003 to 2019.
Rory Darnell Sparrow is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Purvis Short is a retired American professional basketball player who played with the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978 to 1990. A 6'7" small forward, Short averaged 17.3 points per game over his twelve-season career in the NBA. He is currently the Warriors ninth all-time leading scorer.
Timothy Daniel McCormick is an American former professional basketball player from Detroit who played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He currently is a pre- and post-game analyst for the Detroit Pistons.
Albert King is an American former professional basketball player. The younger brother of former NBA scoring champion, Hall of Famer Bernard King, Albert played at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn and is regarded as one of the nation's greatest high school players of all time. He was rated the top prep player in the nation over Magic Johnson and Gene Banks during his senior year. A 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) guard-forward from the University of Maryland, King was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 1981 NBA draft. King played in nine NBA seasons for four teams.
John Arec Gianelli is an American former professional basketball player. At a height of 6'10" tall, he played at the power forward and center positions. He played eight seasons (1972–1980) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New York Knicks, Buffalo Braves, Milwaukee Bucks, and Utah Jazz.
The 1989–90 NBA season was the inaugural season for the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association. Several years after local developer and banker Jim Hewitt began promoting the idea of an NBA franchise in Florida, he was awarded the "Orlando Magic". The Magic, along with the Minnesota Timberwolves, joined the NBA as expansion teams in 1989. Hewitt's first move was to hire Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Pat Williams; together, the two convinced the NBA to give Orlando, Florida a franchise after local fans made $100 deposits on season-ticket reservations. The Magic revealed a new primary logo, which showed a silver star as the letter "A" in the team name "Magic", along with a blue basketball with silver shooting stars. The team also added new pinstripe uniforms, adding blue, black and silver to their color scheme.
The 1992–93 New Jersey Nets season was the Nets' 26th season in the National Basketball Association, and 17th season in East Rutherford, New Jersey. During the off-season, the Nets hired Chuck Daly as head coach; Daly led the Detroit Pistons to two straight championships in 1989 and 1990. The team also acquired Rumeal Robinson from the Atlanta Hawks, acquired Jayson Williams from the Philadelphia 76ers, and signed free agents Chucky Brown and Rick Mahorn. Under Daly, the Nets continued to improve holding a 30–21 record at the All-Star break. However, they would lose second-year star Kenny Anderson for the remainder of the season to a wrist injury after 55 games. At midseason, the Nets signed free agents, former All-Star guard Maurice Cheeks, and former All-Star forward Bernard King. Despite losing ten of their final eleven games, the team finished third in the Atlantic Division with a 43–39 record.
Kevin Devon Knox II is an American professional basketball player for the Rip City Remix of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. Knox was selected ninth overall by the New York Knicks in the 2018 NBA draft.