DALLAS — Lance Blanks, who played in the NBA for three seasons and later worked as a scout and front office executive, has died, his family announced. He was 56.
Blanks died Wednesday in Dallas, his family said in a statement distributed by the NBA.
He was a former general manager of the Phoenix Suns, an assistant general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers and a scout for the San Antonio Spurs and most recently the Los Angeles Clippers.
Statement from Lawrence Frank, on the passing of Lance Blanks.
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) May 4, 2023
Blanks also played for the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Lance was a light for all those who knew him,” said NBA executive Joe Dumars, one of his Detroit teammates. “It’s been a privilege to have called him one of my closest friends. I’m eternally grateful for all the support he has shown me throughout the years. His legacy will be carried on, not only by his family, but by all those whose lives he touched for the better.”
Blanks played college basketball at Virginia and Texas, which inducted him into the Longhorns Hall of Honor in 2007. The Pistons drafted him in the first round in 1990.
The NBA has confirmed the devastating news that Lance Blanks died in Dallas yesterday.
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) May 4, 2023
A Texas hoops legend, former Spurs scouting director, TV broadcaster, father of two daughters, and devoted longtime caretaker to his football pioneer dad, Lance leaves a staggering legacy.
“My dad was my person. He was my teacher, my idol, my best friend,” Riley Blanks Reed said in a statement released by the NBA. “The love I have for him is simply immeasurable. He carried his family and friends on his selfless shoulders and he was the wisest man I’ll ever know. The path ahead is dark without him but he once told me that he trusted my sister and me to carry the torch of our family’s legacy. And we will.”
