Maurice Lucas is the type of player we like to feature because he’s kind of…not forgotten but certainly under-appreciated.
Lucas came from Pittsburgh, which makes perfect sense. That city likes to focus on toughness and he was about as tough as any athlete we can think of.
Lucas played at Marquette for Al McGuire, leading the Warriors (as they were then called) to the 1974 championship game, where they lost to David Thompson and NC State.
He left after his sophomore year, choosing the ABA over the NBA. That meant a surreal trip through the Spirits of St. Louis. We don’t have time to explain that, but trust us: the Spirits were a collection of bizarro players, not least of all Marvin “Bad News” Barnes.
When the ABA merged with the NBA, he was part of the dispersal draft since the Kentucky Colonels, his second ABA team, wasn’t added.
He was chosen by Portland, where he became the enforcer for Bill Walton in one of the great partnerships in NBA history. They really became deep friends and Walton ultimately named his son Luke after Lucas.
One of his NBA highlights was squaring off with Philadelphia’s Darryl Dawkins, who despite having a massive build, understood Lucas’s reputation and was not about to take a beating (he kind of danced around instead).
After Walton’s injuries started, the Trailblazers began to unwind. Lucas ended up playing for eight other teams before returning to Portland for his final season.
He became a pastor after his NBA career and sadly, developed cancer bladder and passed away in 2010 as a widely respected man.