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The Post's Marc Berman reports that Bernard King, the Brooklyn native who played with the Nets at the beginning and end of his career, has been elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame. The announcement will be made on Monday.
Although King had his best years with the Knicks, he was drafted by the Nets and played two years in New Jersey. Over the course of his career, King played 206 games with the Knicks and 193 with the Nets. As a Net, he averaged 20.2 points over three years, his first two and last one. With the Knicks, he played 206 games, averaging 26.5 setting the Knicks single game mark with 60 points in a Christmas Day loss to the Nets. He played 296 games, averaging 21.9 points, with the Bullets.
After being drafted #7 overall by the then New York Nets in 1977, King had two extraordinary seasons with the Nets. In 1977-78, his rookie season, he set a Nets franchise record for most points scored in a season with 1,909, at 24.2 points per game. He would later surpass this record with his 2,027 point season in 1983-84, earning the first of his back-to-back All-NBA First Team selections. Among his Nets teammates: Phil Jackson, Eddie Jordan and Super John Williamson.
Troubled by his sustance abuse, the Nets traded him with John Gianelli and Jim Boylan to the Jazz for Rich Kelley. He played only 19 games for Utah before seeking treatment. After his career was scarred by off-court issues and injuries, King returned to the Nets as a 36-year-old free agent in January 1993 after being released by the Bullets. He averaged seven points in 36 games, barely played in the playoffs and retired.