Lance Blanks
Personal information
Born(1966-09-09)September 9, 1966
Del Rio, Texas, U.S.
DiedMay 3, 2023(2023-05-03) (aged 56)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High schoolMcCullough (The Woodlands, Texas)
College
NBA draft1990: 1st round, 26th overall pick
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Playing career1990–1999
PositionPoint guard / shooting guard
Number32, 21
Career history
1990–1992Detroit Pistons
1992–1993Minnesota Timberwolves
1993Quad City Thunder
1993–1994Oklahoma City Cavalry
1994–1995Gießen 46ers
1997–1998Albacomp Fehérvár
1998–1999Keravnos
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points289 (2.0 ppg)
Rebounds110 (0.8 rpg)
Assists117 (0.8 apg)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

Lance Blanks (September 9, 1966 – May 3, 2023) was an American professional basketball player and executive who worked as an analyst for ESPN. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves. Blanks also spent several seasons playing in Europe. Blanks worked as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns from 2010 to 2013.

Early life

Blanks was born on September 9, 1966, in Del Rio, Texas,[1][2] to Sid Blanks, a football player who played in the American Football League and National Football League. 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.[3][4]

College career

Blanks played collegiately at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin. Blanks and Texas Longhorns teammates Travis Mays and Joey Wright were known as the "BMW Scoring Machine" during the 1989–90 season.[5] That team finished third in the Southwest Conference and advanced to the Elite Eight in the 1990 NCAA tournament.[6] 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.[7]

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.[5]

Blanks was inducted into Texas Athletics' Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2007.[5]

Pro playing career

A guard, Blanks was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft with the 26th overall pick.[8] He had an undistinguished career as a player,[9] playing 142 games in three NBA seasons with the Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves. Afterwards, he played one season in the Continental Basketball Association and another three seasons in Europe,[8][9][3] leading teams in Hungary and Cyprus to league titles.[3]

Post-playing career

From 2010 to 2013, Blanks served as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns,[9][10] a job he earned after five seasons as assistant general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers.[3]

Prior to joining the Cavaliers, he served as the director of scouting for the San Antonio Spurs.[3] He joined the Spurs in 2000 as a scout and was elevated to director of scouting in September 2002.[3] Also while in San Antonio, Blanks served as the Spurs' television analyst during the 2004–05 season.[3][11]

From 2020 until his death in 2023, Blanks served as a television analyst for the Texas Longhorns on Longhorn Network.[12]

Personal life

Blanks's daughter, Riley, was a four-star recruit for the University of Virginia tennis team.[13] His cousin Larvell Blanks was an infielder in Major League Baseball.[3]

In 2019, Blanks hosted a symposium on concussive injuries, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), at the University of Texas's Center for Sports Communication & Media.[14] His father had Parkinson's disease after playing professional football for years.[15] Participants at the symposium discussed the effect of football on the human brain and the symbolic importance of the sport in American life.[14] Blanks also worked with Basketball Without Borders.[2]

Blanks died by suicide in Dallas, Texas, on May 3, 2023, at age 56.[1][8][16]

Career statistics

NBA

Legend
  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

Source[17]

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1990–91 Detroit 3805.6.426.125.714.5.7.2.11.7
1991–92 Detroit 4304.4.455.375.727.5.4.3.01.5
1992–93 Minnesota 61210.5.433.256.6251.11.2.3.12.6
Career 14227.6.436.253.667.8.8.3.12.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1992 Detroit 1010.0.500––1.03.03.0.02.0

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Former Men's Basketball great Lance Blanks passes away". University of Texas Athletics. May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Finger, Mike (May 4, 2023). "Former Texas star Lance Blanks leaves legacy beyond basketball". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cavaliers: Front Office Archived July 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Cohen, Haskell (March 17, 1985). "Parade's All-America High School Boys Basketball Team". Parade. p. 18. Retrieved May 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 "Longhorn legends: Basketball Hall of Honor inductee Lance Blanks". texassports.com. October 9, 2007. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  6. ↑ "2014–15 Texas Basketball Fact Book" (PDF). texassports.com. p. 91. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  7. ↑ Nuhn, Gary (March 24, 1990). "Blanks shoots, hoots & hollers for Longhorns". Dayton Daily News. p. B1. Retrieved May 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 "Former Pistons guard Lance Blanks passes away at age 56". detroitnews.com. May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 Broussard, Chris (August 5, 2010). "Suns hire Lance Blanks as GM". ESPN. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  10. ↑ Suns and Blanks Part Ways
  11. ↑ Cavaliers: Lance Blanks Chat Transcript
  12. ↑ Ufnowski, Amy (November 24, 2020). "Longhorn Network Set to Televise 20 Texas Basketball Games During the 2020-21 Season". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Raised to Shine". uvamagazine.org. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Head Trauma and the Future of Football". https://Moody College of Communication. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Texas football legend Sidney Blanks dies at 80". KVUE. December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  16. ↑ Blanks Reed, Riley (May 9, 2023). "Remembering the man, my father Lance Blanks". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Lance Blanks NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
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