Lance Blanks (September 9, 1966 – May 3, 2023) was an American professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
player and executive who worked as an analyst for
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
. He played in the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA) for the
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...
and
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...
. Blanks also spent several seasons playing in Europe. Blanks worked as the general manager of the
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...
from 2010 to 2013.
Early life
Blanks was born on September 9, 1966, in
Del Rio, Texas
Del Rio (in Spanish language, Spanish, ''Del Río'', "from the river") is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, Val Verde County in southwestern Texas, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020, Del Rio had a popul ...
,
[ to Sid Blanks, a ]football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player who played in the American Football League
The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...
and National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
. Lance Blanks attended McCullough High School in The Woodlands, Texas, and was named Texas Mr. Basketball and a third-team ''Parade'' All-American in 1985.[
]
College career
Blanks played collegiately at the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
and the University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
. Blanks and Texas Longhorns teammates Travis Mays and Joey Wright were known as the "BMW Scoring Machine" during the 1989–90 season. That team finished third in the Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...
and advanced to the Elite Eight
In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...
in the 1990 NCAA tournament. Blanks drew strong criticism and gained many detractors for his on-court antics and unsportsmanlike, excessive celebration, such as at the Elite Eight of the 1990 tournament.
With 1,322 points, Blanks holds the record for the highest number of points by a two-year player and is the eighth-leading scorer in University of Texas history. Blanks ended his career at Texas as the all-time leader in steals and ranked fourth in career scoring average with 20.0 points per game.
Blanks was inducted into Texas Athletics' Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2007.
Pro playing career
A guard, Blanks was selected by the Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...
in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft with the 26th overall pick.[ He had an undistinguished career as a player,][ playing 142 games in three NBA seasons with the Pistons and ]Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...
. Afterwards, he played one season in the Continental Basketball Association
The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...
and another three seasons in Europe,[ leading teams in ]Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
and Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
to league titles.[
]
Post-playing career
Blanks joined the San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
in 2000 as a scout and was elevated to director of scouting in September 2002.[ He served as the Spurs' television analyst during the 2004–05 season.][
Blanks worked five seasons as assistant general manager of the ]Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...
from 2005 to 2010.[Cavaliers: Front Office]
From 2010 to 2013, Blanks served as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...
.[
From 2020 until his death in 2023, Blanks served as a television analyst for the Texas Longhorns on Longhorn Network.
]
Personal life
Blanks's daughter, Riley, was a four-star recruit for the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
tennis team. His cousin Larvell Blanks was an infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base.
Standard arrangement of positions
In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
.[
In 2019, Blanks hosted a symposium on concussive injuries, ]chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets wor ...
(CTE), at the University of Texas's Center for Sports Communication & Media.[ His father had ]Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
after playing professional football for years. Participants at the symposium discussed the effect of football on the human brain and the symbolic importance of the sport in American life. Blanks also worked with Basketball Without Borders.
Blanks died by suicide in Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas, on May 3, 2023, at age 56.
Career statistics
NBA
Source
Regular season
, -
, align="left" ,
, align="left" , Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, 38 , , 0 , , 5.6 , , .426 , , .125 , , .714 , , .5 , , .7 , , .2 , , .1 , , 1.7
, -
, align="left" ,
, align="left" , Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, 43 , , 0 , , 4.4 , , .455 , , .375 , , .727 , , .5 , , .4 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.5
, -
, align="left" ,
, align="left" , Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, 61 , , 2 , , 10.5 , , .433 , , .256 , , .625 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.6
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 142 , , 2 , , 7.6 , , .436 , , .253 , , .667 , , .8 , , .8 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.0
Playoffs
, -
, align="left" , 1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
, align="left" , Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, 1 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .500 , , – , , – , , 1.0 , , 3.0 , , 3.0 , , .0 , , 2.0
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanks, Lance
1966 births
2023 deaths
2023 suicides
Alba Fehérvár players
American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus
American expatriate basketball people in Germany
American expatriate basketball people in Hungary
American men's basketball players
Cleveland Cavaliers executives
Detroit Pistons draft picks
Detroit Pistons players
Giessen 46ers players
Keravnos B.C. players
Minnesota Timberwolves players
NBA general managers
Oklahoma City Cavalry players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
Sportspeople from The Woodlands, Texas
Sportspeople from Del Rio, Texas
Phoenix Suns executives
Quad City Thunder players
Shooting guards
Basketball players from Harris County, Texas
Suicides in Texas
Texas Longhorns men's basketball players
Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball players
20th-century American sportsmen