“The basketball world and everyone Michael came into contact with has lost a great athlete,” Zelbst said. “He lived life to the fullest. He overcame the most incredible adversity to achieve what he did in life.
“He serves as an example of how to redeem yourself and make something of yourself. I think he is the greatest NBA player never to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Incredible player – player, person and family man.”
Michael Ray Richardson had an eight-year NBA career
Michael Ray Richardson, nicknamed “Sugar,” played at the University of Montana before being selected by the New York Knicks with the fourth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft.
Richardson had an eight-year NBA career with the Knicks, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets, earning four All-Star selections while leading the league in steals three times.
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In 556 NBA regular season games (358 starts), he averaged 14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 2.6 steals and 33.4 minutes per game while shooting 45.7% from the field, 22% from deep and 69% at the foul line.
According to Basketball referenceRichardson averaged a career-high 20.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists and a career-best 3.0 steals per game for the Nets during the 1984-85 season.
He was also named 1985 NBA Comeback Player of the Year.
NBA banned Richardson for three drug policy violations
Richardson was banned for life by NBA Commissioner David Stern in 1986 for violating the league’s drug policy for a third time. The Denver resident had substance abuse problems “due to cocaine use,” Spears said.
He was the first active NBA player to be banned by the league.
“My darkest day then was the man [from the NBA] met me at the airport and told me I was banned from the NBA,” Richardson told Andscape in May.
“I’ll never forget that day. They were waiting for me in Newark. As soon as I got off the plane, I knew what was going on. Then I went home and binged for a few days. And then I came to. I got into it. I have to get myself out of it.”
Richardson continued his career in Europe
After being banished from the NBA, Richardson had a brief stint in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) before starring professionally, mainly in Italy and France.
Richardson won the LNB Pro A Championship with Olympique Antibes in 1995 and retired from professional basketball in 2002 after playing for AC Golfe-Juan-Vallauris in France.
After his playing career, Richardson coached in the CBA for the Albany Patroons and the Oklahoma/Lawton-Fort Still Cavalry.
He led the Cavalry to three consecutive titles with the CBA in 2008 and 2009 and the Premier Basketball League (PBL) in 2010.
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