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Samuel Lacey (March 28, 1948 – March 14, 2014) was an American player. He spent the majority of his career with the Royals/Kings franchise. Lacey was selected as an all-star while playing for the Kings in 1975, and eventually had his number 44 retired by them.

Early life
Lacey was born on March 8, 1948, in Indianola, Mississippi. He attended Gentry High School in Indianola. He was MVP of the Mississippi High School All Star Game.

In 1970, Indianola held Sam Lacey Day, including a parade and six-seven thousand attendees, and a speech by the mayor.

College career
Lacey attended New Mexico State University, and played college basketball there as its 240 pound (108.86 kg) center. As a freshman, he entered school at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) and only 180 pounds (81.65 kg), but gained 60 pounds (27.22 kg) between his freshman and sophomore years. He was recruited by Ed Murphy, an assistant to head coach . The Aggies had a combined record of 74–14 during the three seasons he played varsity basketball there (1967-1970), and were in the NCAA tournament all three years. In 1968, he was the MVP of the Evansville Classic.

In the 1969–70 post-season, he and All-American star guard Jimmy Collins (24.3 points per game) led the Aggies to their first and only appearance. Lacey averaged 17.7 points and 15.9 rebounds per game that season. The Aggies defeated , Kansas State University and before falling to eventual national champion and legendary coach at the Final Four.

Lacey suffered a foot injury early in the game, and the Aggies were not competitive in the second half. UCLA had won five of the previous six NCAA titles, and would go on to win the next three. However, the Aggies won the third-place game over St. Bonaventure to finish 27–3, and ended the year ranked fifth in the nation. Lacey earned first-team All-American honors from Basketball Weekly.

While at New Mexico State, Lacey set team rebounding records for a career, season and single game. As of 2024, Lacey's 1969-1970 average of 15.9 rebounds per game remains the school record, and his 493 total rebounds that season is still the record as well. Over his college career, Lacey averaged 16.3 points and 14.2 rebounds per game.

His nickname in college was "Slammin' Sam".

NBA career
Lacey was drafted in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1970 NBA draft by the Cincinnati Royals, playing over ten years for that franchise. In total, he played 13 seasons (1970–1983) in the National Basketball Association. He started as a member of the Royals in Cincinnati. The team (which had moved from Rochester to Cincinnati in 1957) moved in 1972, becoming the Kansas City–Omaha Kings and then became the Kansas City Kings before the 1975-1976 season. Lacey played for both Kansas City incarnations (the same franchise now being the ). At the end of his career, he played for the New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers.

He averaged a double-double in points and rebounds over his first six seasons. Lacey had the NBA's third leading rebound average in the 1974–75 season (behind only hall of famers and ), and the second-most total rebounds (behind only hall of famer ). Lacey's most productive NBA season came in 1973–74 when he averaged 14.2 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. That year, on November 25, 1973, Lacey grabbed a career best 26 rebounds, including 10 offensive rebounds, along with scoring 20 points and recording 6 assists, in a 104–99 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics. He was named an All-Star in 1975, and finished the season averaging 11.5 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. That season, on February 5, 1975, Lacey recorded a career high 8 steals during a 90–82 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

During the 1981 NBA playoffs, Lacey was the team captain and leader and played a key role in the 40–42 five seed Kings making it to the Western Conference Finals before being eliminated by and the . He averaged 10 points, 8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.9 steals, for a Kansas City team missing starting guards Phil Ford and due to injuries for most of the playoffs. During the following season, Lacey was traded to the Nets for and a future first round draft pick.

Lacey is one of only five NBA players (along with , , and Ben Wallace) to have registered 100 blocks and 100 steals in six consecutive seasons. His jersey no. 44 is retired by the Sacramento Kings. He is also one of three NBA players (along with and ) to total at least 30 rebounds and fewer than 10 points in the first two games of the season.

When Lacey retired in 1983, he had accumulated 9,687 rebounds and a total of 10,303 points. As of 2024, Lacey ranks 45th overall for total rebounds in NBA history, and 49th on combined ABA/NBA total rebounds.

Honors
In 2024, Lacey was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1975, he was inducted into the New Mexico State Athletics Hall of Fame. In February 2008, Lacey was among the first inductees into the Aggies Ring of Honor, along with his coach Lou Henson, and Billy Joe Price. In 2015, he became the first New Mexico State basketball player to be inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame.

Statistics
Regular season
|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Cincinnati | 81 || – || 32.7 || .418 || – || .687 || 11.3 || 1.4 || – || – || 13.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Cincinnati | 81 || – || 35.0 || .422 || – || .704 || 12.0 || 2.1 || – || – || 11.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City–Omaha | 79 || – || 37.1 || .474 || – || .708 || 11.8 || 2.4 || – || – || 13.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City–Omaha | 79 || – || 39.3 || .476 || – || .749 || 13.4 || 3.8 || 1.6 || 2.3 || 14.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City–Omaha | 81 || – || 41.7 || .427 || – || .754 || 14.2 || 5.3 || 1.7 || 2.1 || 11.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 81 || – || 38.1 || .401 || – || .759 || 12.6 || 4.7 || 1.6 || 1.7 || 12.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 82 || – || 31.6 || .422 || – || .762 || 9.0 || 4.7 || 1.5 || 1.6 || 10.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 77 || – || 27.7 || .449 || – || .717 || 8.3 || 3.9 || 1.6 || 1.4 || 8.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 82 || – || 32.0 || .502 || – || .739 || 8.6 || 5.2 || 1.3 || 1.7 || 10.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 81 || – || 29.8 || .448 || .000 || .741 || 8.0 || 5.7 || 1.4 || 1.3 || 9.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 82 || – || 27.2 || .442 || .200 || .786 || 7.1 || 4.9 || 1.2 || 1.5 || 6.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Kansas City | 2 || 1 || 10.0 || .600 || – || .000 || 2.0 || 2.0 || 1.0 || .5 || 3.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|New Jersey | 54 || 6 || 12.0 || .430 || .000 || .771 || 1.9 || 1.4 || .4 || .7 || 2.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland | 60 || 33 || 20.5 || .420 || .222 || .784 || 3.9 || 2.0 || .5 || .4 || 4.2 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 1,002 || 40 || 31.8 || .441 || .188 || .738 || 9.7 || 3.7 || 1.3 || 1.5 || 10.3

|- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star | 1 || 0 || 17.0 || .333 || – || 1.000 || 7.0 || 1.0 || 2.0 || 1.0 || 6.0

Playoffs
|- |style="text-align:left;"|1975 |style="text-align:left;”|Kansas City–Omaha |6||–|| 44.0||.377||–||.611|| 15.7||5.0||2.0||1.5||9.5 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1979 |style="text-align:left;”|Kansas City |5||–||35.2||.381||–||.789||10.2||4.2||1.8|| 2.0||9.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1980 |style="text-align:left;”|Kansas City |3||–||33.7||.381|| 1.000||.750||7.3||4.3|| 2.3||.7||6.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1981 |style="text-align:left;”|Kansas City | 15||–||35.5|| .420||.000|| .857||8.0|| 5.3||1.9||1.5|| 10.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 29 || – || 37.0 || .401 || .250 || .776 || 9.9 || 5.0 || 1.9 || 1.5 || 9.4

Death
Lacey died in his home in Kansas City, Missouri on March 14, 2014, at age 65.

See also
  • List of NBA career rebounding leaders
  • List of NBA career personal fouls leaders

External links

: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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