John Lucas II

John Lucas II
John Lucas II
Born	October 31, 1953 (age 73); United States
Occupation(s)	Basketball player, coach, tennis player
Years active	1976–1992 (player), 1991–present (coach)
Known for	NBA player and coach, All-American basketball and tennis athlete at University of Maryland

John Harding Lucas II (born October 31, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most recently serving as an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his collegiate years at the University of Maryland, College Park, he excelled in both basketball and tennis, earning All-American honors in each sport.

Collegiate career

Lucas attended the University of Maryland, where he distinguished himself as an All-American basketball athlete. In the 1973–74 season, he received Second-team All-American recognition alongside teammates Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. That year, the Terrapins completed a 23–5 regular season record and went 9–3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), but failed to secure an NCAA Tournament berth following a defeat in the ACC Tournament. The following season, 1974–75, Lucas was elevated to First-team All-American status as Maryland clinched the ACC regular-season title with a 24–5 overall mark (10–2 ACC). The team advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight before falling to Louisville. Additionally, Lucas earned a bronze medal representing the US national team at the 1974 FIBA World Championship.

In his final collegiate season, 1975–76, Lucas maintained his First-team All-American distinction. Maryland ended with a 22–6 overall record (7–5 ACC) but once again missed the NCAA Tournament due to another loss during the ACC Tournament.

Professional career

Selected as the number one overall pick in the 1976 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, Lucas was also chosen by the ABA’s New York Nets. His NBA career spanned 14 seasons, beginning with two years at Houston before being transferred to the Golden State Warriors as part of compensation related to Rick Barry’s signing. While with Golden State, Lucas achieved a personal best of 35 points in a game during 1978. However, his time there concluded following suspensions caused by missed practices and games, leading to his contract not being renewed.

Lucas joined the Washington Bullets next but revealed a cocaine addiction early in the 1982–83 season and entered rehabilitation; he was released by Washington in 1983. After exploring professional tennis and playing minor league basketball, he returned to NBA action with the San Antonio Spurs and later rejoined Houston. Despite recurring substance abuse issues resulting in waivers and reinstatements, Lucas secured a regular starting role for Houston in 1986 before being waived again after failing drug tests.

In 1987, Lucas signed a ten-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks that was extended for the remainder of the season. At age 33 during the 1986–87 campaign, he posted a career-high average of 17.5 points per game and led Milwaukee with 30 points in an Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup against Boston. Over the next three seasons, he primarily served as a reserve player.

During the 1991–92 season, Lucas briefly appeared in three games for the Wichita Falls Texans of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) while simultaneously coaching the Miami Tropics in the United States Basketball League (USBL), where he supported players such as Roy Tarpley through their recovery struggles.

Following his own rehabilitation journey and after founding programs to aid athletes battling substance abuse, Lucas transitioned into coaching roles within the NBA, eventually becoming a head coach. He currently manages a wellness and aftercare recovery initiative dedicated to professional athletes dealing with substance addiction and has assisted many players, including longtime friend Freeman Williams.

Regular season

|- | align="left" | 1976–77 | align="left" | Houston | 82 || - || 30.9 || .477 || - || .789 || 2.7 || 5.6 || 1.5 || 0.2 || 11.1 |- | align="left" | 1977–78 | align="left" | Houston | 82 || - || 35.8 || .435 || - || .772 || 3.1 || 9.4 || 2.0 || 0.1 || 12.4 |- | align="left" | 1978–79 | align="left" | Golden State | style="background:#cfecec;"| 82* || - || 37.7 || .462 || - || .822 || 3.0 || 9.3 || 1.9 || 0.1 || 16.1 |- | align="left" | 1979–80 | align="left" | Golden State | 80 || - || 34.5 || .467 || .286 || .768 || 2.8 || 7.5 || 1.7 || 0.0 || 12.6 |- | align="left" | 1980–81 | align="left" | Golden State | 66 || - || 29.1 || .439 || .167 || .738 || 2.3 || 7.0 || 1.3 || 0.0 || 8.4 |- | align="left" | 1981–82 | align="left" | Washington | 79 || 53 || 24.6 || .426 || .091 || .784 || 2.1 || 7.0 || 1.2 || 0.1 || 8.4 |- | align="left" | 1982–83 | align="left" | Washington | 35 || 0 || 11.0 || .473 || .000 || .500 || 0.8 || 2.9 || 0.7|| 0.0||4.1 |- | align="left" | 1983–84 | align="left" | San Antonio | 63||39||28.7|| .462|| .275|| .764||2.9|| 10.7||1.5||0.1||10.9 |- | align="left" | 1984–85 | align="left" | Houston |47||21||24.6|| .462|| .318|| .798||1.8||6.8||1.3||0.0||11.4 |- | align="left" | 1985–86 | align="left" | Houston |65||65||32.6|| .446|| .308|| .775||2.2||8..8||1..2||0..1||15..5 |- |- class="sortbottom" ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Career !928 !266 !27..5 !..449 !..303 !..776 !2..3 !7..0 !1..4 !..1 !10..7 }}

Playoffs

|- |- class="sortbottom" ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Career !45 !16 !25..2 !..451 !..261 !..746 !2..1 !4..9 !1..2 !..1 !11..2 }}

College

|- | align="left" | 1972–73 | align="left" | Maryland | 30 || - || - || .538 || - || .703 || 2.8 || - || - || - || 14.2 |- | align="left" | 1973–74 | align="left" | Maryland | 28 || - || - || .511 || - || .753|| 2.8|| -|| -|| -|| 20.1 |- | align="left" | 1974–75 | align="left" | Maryland |24||-||-||.549||-||.836||.4||-||-||-||19.5 |- |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class="sortbottom" |- class= |- class= |-class=

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Coaching career

On August 8, 1991, Lucas took ownership of the Miami Tropics franchise in the United States Basketball League, focusing on assisting players to overcome substance abuse through counseling and personal growth. He later assumed the role of head coach, guiding the team to back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993 before resigning from the position.

Lucas held head coaching roles with the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers, each lasting less than two seasons and accumulating a combined coaching record of 174 wins and 258 losses. His most significant NBA coaching achievement occurred with the Spurs: after stepping in during the 1992–93 season, he led the team to a 39–22 finish and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals; the next season, the squad achieved a strong regular-season record of 55–27 but was eliminated in the opening playoff round.

Prior to his stint with Cleveland, Lucas spent three years as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets.

He also played a role in supporting Indiana Pacers guard T.J. Ford during his rehabilitation from a serious neck injury sustained in Houston.

Within the NBA coaching ranks, Lucas joined the Los Angeles Clippers as an assistant coach for the 2009–10 season under head coach Mike Dunleavy.

In addition to coaching, Lucas provided life coaching services to former NFL first-round draft pick JaMarcus Russell from 2010 until April 2011.

In July 2016, Lucas rejoined the Houston Rockets organization as a player development coach. He was promoted to assistant coach on November 6, 2020, becoming part of Stephen Silas’s coaching staff.

Head coaching record

|- | style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio | style="text-align:left;"| |61||39||22|||| align="center"|2nd place in Midwest|||10||5||5|| | style="text-align:center;"|Eliminated in Conference Semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio | style="text-align:left;"| |82||55||27|||| align="center"|2nd place in Midwest|||4||1||3|| | style="text-align:center;"|Exited in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|Philadelphia | style="text-align:left;"| |82||24||58|||| align="center"|6th place in Atlantic|||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Did not qualify for playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|Philadelphia | style="text-align:left;"| |82||18||64|||| align="center"|7th place in Atlantic|||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Did not qualify for playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland | style="text-align:left;"| |82||29||53|||| align="center"|7th place in Central|||—||—||—||— | style="text-align:center;"|Did not qualify for playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland | style="text-align:left;"| |42||8||34|||| align="center"|(dismissed)||—||—||—||— |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;" |Overall |||431||173||258|||||14||6||8||||

Tennis career

Lucas distinguished himself as a tennis athlete, achieving All-American status at Maryland and securing the ACC top singles championship twice (1974, 1976). He was honored with the McKelvin Award, recognizing him as the conference's premier all-around competitor. Throughout the 1970s, Lucas competed professionally on the Grand Prix and Challenger circuits, with his most notable performance being a semi-final appearance at a Raleigh Challenger event alongside Fred McNair. His peak singles ranking was No. 579, attained in December 1979.

In World Team Tennis, Lucas represented the San Francisco Golden Gaters in 1976 and the New Orleans Sun Belt Nets in 1978, forming an effective mixed doubles partnership with Renée Richards.

In 2005, Lucas took on the role of head coach for the Houston Wranglers, a team that featured distinguished players such as Steffi Graf and Mardy Fish.

Personal life

Lucas’s older son, John Lucas III, played collegiate basketball at Oklahoma State and has been rostered on multiple NBA teams. His younger son, Jai Lucas, is currently the head coach at the University of Miami, previously served as an assistant coach at Duke University, and competed collegiately at the University of Texas.

External links