Former NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson, who was banned from the league for drug use, died Tuesday.
He was 70. According to Andscape, Richardson died in Lawton, Oklahoma, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Richardson was selected with the fourth overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 1978 NBA draft after playing college basketball at the University of Montana, where he was a three-time first-team All-Big Sky Conference selection.
‘We are saddened to hear about the passing of former Knick Michael Ray Richardson,’ the Knicks said in a statement.
‘One of the fiercest defensive players of his era, the four-time NBA All-Star made an incredible impact on the Knicks during his four seasons with the franchise. The basketball world and anyone Michael came in contact with lost a great sportsman.’
Richardson also played for the Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets, and was an All-Star selection in 1980–1982 and 1985, and a two-time All-NBA Defensive First Team performer, while leading the league in steals three times.
Richardson was named the 1985 NBA Comeback Player of the Year after averaging 20.1 points, 8.2 assists, 5.6 rebounds, and three steals per game for the Nets. He was banned from the NBA in 1986 after violating the league’s drug policy. After his NBA career ended, Richardson played in the Continental Basketball Association and overseas in Italy and France.
Richardson returned to the CBA and found success as a coach with the Albany Patroons and the Oklahoma/Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, where he led the team to two straight titles in 2008 and 2009, and another in 2010 when the team joined the Premier Basketball League.