Former Knicks star Micheal Ray Richardson, who was the first NBA player to ever be banned for life for drug violations, died Tuesday in Oklahoma at the age of 70 following a battle with prostate cancer, according to Andscape.
“The basketball world and anyone Micheal came in contact with lost a great sportsman,” attorney and friend John Zelbst said told the outlet. “He lived life to the fullest. He overcame the most incredible odds to accomplish what he did in life. He serves as an example on how to redeem yourself and make something of yourself. I think he is the greatest NBA player that has never been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Incredible player — player, person and family man.”
Richardson, nicknamed “Sugar,” starred at Montana before the Knicks drafted him with the fourth pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, and he spent four productive seasons with the team.
He averaged 14.2 points, 7.1 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game while missing just 13 games, earning two All-Star bids and twice earning First Team All-Defense honors.
Micheal Ray Richardson during the 1978 season. Getty Images
The Knicks then included him in one of the most famous trades in team history, sending Richardson and a fifth-round pick to the Warriors for Bernard King.
Richardson spent just 33 games with the Warriors before they traded him to the Nets for Sleepy Floyd and Mickey Johnson, and he finished his career with the Nets.
He earned NBA Comeback Player of the Year honors in 1985 after averaging a career-high 20.1 points per game.
Richardson’s playing days, though, ended prematurely when he received a lifetime ban in 1986 for violating the league’s drug policy three times.
He noted his cocaine addition in his book, “Banned: How I squandered an All-Star NBA career before finding my redemption.”
Richardson with the Nets in 1986. NBAE via Getty Images
Richardson later played in the United States Basketball League and Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and did not return to the NBA despite his ban being repealed two years later.
He averaged 14.8 points, 7.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 steals in his career, leading the league in steals three times.
“My darkest day was when the guy [from the NBA] met me at the airport and told me I was banned from the NBA,” Richardson said to Andscape in May 2025. “I will never forget that day. They waited for me in Newark. As soon as I got off the plane, I knew what was going on. After that, I went home and went on a few days binge. And then after that, I came to. I got myself into it. I have to get myself out.”
Richardson in 2019. Getty Images
Richardson eventually moved into coaching, leading teams in the CBA and National Basketball League of Canada.
He received a suspension in 2007 while with the Albany Patroons of the CBA for making alleged anti-semitic remarks.
