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Sacramento Kings: 25 Best Players To Play For The Kings

By Phil Watson

Apr 9, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; DJ Mixmaster Mike performs during half time of the game between the Sacramento Kings and Oklahoma City Thunder at Sleep Train Arena. The Kings won 114-112. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 9, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; DJ Mixmaster Mike performs during half time of the game between the Sacramento Kings and Oklahoma City Thunder at Sleep Train Arena. The Kings won 114-112. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Basketball: NBA Playoffs: Cincinnati Royals Jerry Lucas (16) in action vs Boston Celtics Bill Russell (6). Game 4. Cincinnati, OH 3/30/1966 CREDIT: Walter Iooss Jr. (Photo by Walter Iooss Jr. /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X11537 )
Basketball: NBA Playoffs: Cincinnati Royals Jerry Lucas (16) in action vs Boston Celtics Bill Russell (6). Game 4. Cincinnati, OH 3/30/1966 CREDIT: Walter Iooss Jr. (Photo by Walter Iooss Jr. /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X11537 ) /

PF. 1963-69. Jerry Lucas. 3. player. 67. <strong>How acquired: </strong>Territorial selection from Ohio State, 1962 NBA Draft.

A three-time All-American and two-time national player of the year who had led Ohio State to a national championship in 1960, Jerry Lucas was a no-brainer selection as the Cincinnati Royals’ territorial pick in the 1962 NBA Draft.

But Lucas got an offer he couldn’t refuse from the Cleveland Pipers of the upstart American Basketball League and signed with the club owned by George Steinbrenner.

SAC_03_LUCAS
SAC_03_LUCAS /

It was an unmitigated mess. The NBA invited the Pipers to join the league, the ABL sued and then the whole league folded in the fall of 1962.

Lucas sat out the 1962-63 to fulfill contractual obligations to Steinbrenner and then joined the Royals in 1963.

He would lead the NBA in field-goal shooting as a rookie in 1963-64 en route to copping Rookie of the Year honors. He was a five-time All-Star, including MVP of the 1965 All-Star Game, and a five-time All-NBA selection in Cincinnati, as well, finishing fifth in the MVP voting in 1965-66.

Lucas would finish third in field-goal percentage in 1964-65 and 1967-68, second in minutes per game in 1966-67 and 1967-68 (also finishing third in 1965-66, fourth in 1964-65 and fifth in 1963-64), and was in the top five in rebounding five times, including second in 1967-68.

But in October 1969, the Royals traded Lucas to the San Francisco Warriors in exchange for Jim King and Bill Turner.

In parts of seven seasons in Cincinnati, Lucas averaged 19.6 points, 19.1 rebounds and three assists in 43.1 minutes per game, shooting 49.7 percent from the floor and 78.4 percent from the foul line.

He was an All-Star twice with the Warriors before he was traded in May 1971 to the New York Knicks, where he won his only NBA title in 1973, retiring in June 1974.

Lucas is 16th in NBA history with 12,942 rebounds, eighth with an average of 38.8 minutes per game and fourth with an average of 15.6 rebounds per game.

A member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, Lucas was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.

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