Michael Ray Richardson, Four-Time All-Star Banned By League, Dies at 70

The versatile guard starred in both North America and Europe.

Michael Ray Richardson waves to the crowd at a 2019 Italian league game. / Mario Carlini/Iguana Press

Michael Ray Richardson, a four-time All-Star with the Knicks and Nets who starred in Europe after the NBA banned him due to his cocaine use, died of prostate cancer Tuesday. He was 70.

"The NBA mourns the passing of four-time All-Star Michael Ray Richardson," the league said in a social-media statement. "Michael dedicated his post-NBA career to using his life story to teach life skills to young people."

Born in Lubbock, Texas, Richardson—whose name was often rendered as "Micheal"—played collegiately for Montana. He made a trio of All-Big Sky teams for the Grizzlies and remains second on the school's scoring list.

Drafted fourth by New York in 1978, he immediately established himself as a star by leading the league in both assists and steals in 1981. Two trades led him to New Jersey, where he made a fourth All-Star team in 1985 before a third positive cocaine test in three years resulted in a lifetime ban.

"When you get like that, you lose all sense of yourself. You become a zombie. Your only thoughts are when you'll be getting high next and for how long. It's a parasite and you don't care about anything but pacifying it," Richardson wrote in his 2024 memoir.

Though he could return to the NBA after 1988, Richardson played the remainder of his career elsewhere, making a trio of All-Star Games in the Italian league. He later coached in multiple lower-level leagues and ran youth basketball camps.

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