Stacey King, Bulls champion and broadcaster, dies at 59

Stacey King, who won three titles with the Michael Jordan-era Bulls and later became one of Chicago’s most familiar basketball voices, died Sunday at 59. The Bulls said no cause of death was given. For more than three decades, King connected the franchise to the city first as a 6-foot-11 forward from Oklahoma and later as an Emmy-winning broadcaster who helped turn championship memory into everyday sports culture.

King was born Jan. 29, 1967, in Lawton, Oklahoma, and starred at the University of Oklahoma, where he was a first-team All-American and helped lead the Sooners to the 1988 NCAA championship game. Chicago selected him No. 6 overall in the 1989 NBA Draft, bringing him into the core of a team that would define an era with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson, B.J. Armstrong and Luc Longley.

His playing career lasted eight seasons and included stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. He averaged 6.4 points and 3.3 rebounds, a solid professional run that was overshadowed in the best possible way by the Bulls’ rise, as King became part of the club’s first three championship teams from 1991 to 1993. After his playing career, he coached the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association in 2001-02.

King’s second act in Chicago gave him a broader reach than his playing numbers alone ever could. He began broadcasting for the Bulls in 2006 on Comcast SportsNet, later NBC Sports Chicago and CHSN, and spent more than two decades behind the microphone as an Emmy-winning analyst. That role made him a bridge between the mythology of the Jordan years and modern fans who knew the franchise through his voice as much as through the highlights.

Jerry Reinsdorf called King a cherished member of the Bulls family and one of the organization’s unique personalities. Michael Reinsdorf said King loved being a Bull and had a gift for bringing people together. The Bulls said they plan to honor him throughout the season.

King leaves behind four sons. For Chicago, his impact reached well beyond the stat sheet, lasting in the cadence, humor and familiarity of a broadcaster who made Bulls history feel immediate, even decades later.