16 Facts About Lance Blanks

1.

Lance Blanks was an American professional basketball player and executive who worked as an analyst for ESPN.

2.

Lance Blanks played in the National Basketball Association for the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.

3.

Lance Blanks was born on September 9,1966, in Del Rio, Texas, to Sid Lance Blanks, a football player who played in the American Football League and National Football League.

4.

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.

5.

Lance Blanks played collegiately at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin.

6.

Lance 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.

Lance 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.

8.

Lance Blanks was inducted into Texas Athletics' Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2007.

9.

Lance Blanks had an undistinguished career as a player, playing 142 games in three NBA seasons with the Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.

10.

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

11.

Lance Blanks joined the Spurs in 2000 as a scout and was elevated to director of scouting in September 2002.

12.

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

13.

Lance Blanks's daughter, Riley, was a four-star recruit for the University of Virginia tennis team.

14.

Lance Blanks's cousin Larvell Blanks was an infielder in Major League Baseball.

15.

Lance Blanks's father suffered from Parkinson's disease after playing professional football for years.

16.

Lance Blanks died by suicide in Dallas, Texas, on May 3,2023, at age 56.