Stacey King, three-time Bulls champion and longtime TV voice, dies at 59

The Chicago Bulls announced on Sunday that Stacey King, a three-time NBA champion with the organization and a longtime television voice, died at 59. The team did not immediately provide additional details beyond confirmation of his death, and no cause was reported in the initial statements circulated by major outlets. Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf praised King as a distinctive part of the franchise, highlighting a connection to Chicago that spanned decades as both a player and broadcaster.

King’s identity as a Bull was built first in the 1990s, when he played in the middle of the franchise’s historic first three-peat. He was drafted by Chicago with the No. 6 overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft and joined a Bulls roster already in the Eastern Conference Finals orbit. King played for Chicago through the core years of the championships, appearing on three consecutive title teams from 1991 to 1993, according to coverage of his death.

Before the NBA, King was a major college figure at the University of Oklahoma. CBS Sports reported that King helped the Sooners reach the NCAA championship game in 1988 and earned major honors in 1989, including being named Big 8 Player of the Year and a consensus First Team All-American. Those accomplishments fed expectations when Chicago drafted him, and while King’s Bulls role was more rotation and support than leading scorer, he remained a trusted piece of a championship system built around defense, spacing, and execution.

As his playing career moved away from center stage, King returned to the Bulls as a broadcaster and became a fixture for fans trying to make sense of every era after the dynasty. AP reported he came back in the mid-2000s and was an Emmy-winning broadcaster for the franchise. CBS Sports described a career that stretched into two decades in Chicago’s TV booth, with King working as a studio host and color commentator.

A big part of King’s popularity was perspective, the ability to speak like a former teammate and still treat each possession like it mattered to the viewer at home. CBS Sports pointed to his memorable commentary during the Derrick Rose years, when Chicago’s games carried both pressure and hope. In the background, King also carried a champion’s credibility, coming from the Michael Jordan-era Bulls and translating that tradition into a modern broadcast style that leaned on humor, candor, and a steady sense of the moment.

Now the Bulls face an immediate challenge that goes beyond grief: replacing a voice that helped define how the team sounded to its most loyal audience. The next broadcasts will likely become a focus for tributes, and the larger question for the franchise and its production partners will be how to preserve the role King occupied, especially the balance between technical analysis and story-driven color. In the weeks ahead, fans will also look to hear how the wider NBA media community remembers a broadcaster who doubled as a champion.