Chris Mullin will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, following 16 years in the NBA -- most of that with the Golden State Warriors -- and a heralded four-year stay at St. John's in his native New York City.
Chris Mullin Rides Success In College And NBA Into Basketball Hall Of Fame
Mullin, who entered the NBA in 1985, was one of the early great shooters in the league. The NBA adopted the three-pointer in 1980; through Mullin’s career, the league at larger gradually began to see the value of the shot and attempts increased. By 1993, Mullin had become one of the most effective and frequent three-point shooters in the league, something that buoyed his all-around game.
A fantastically versatile player, Mullin was a regular high on the free throws leaderboard too, proving a true double-threat: he could pull up for a jumper or get all the way to the rim. He finished in the league’s top-10 in scoring four times with the Warriors, and broke the increasingly exclusive 25-point barrier in five seasons. (Despite his great reputation as a scorer, he never scored 50 or more in a game.)
He also spent three seasons with the Indiana Pacers, which included his only career NBA Finals trip in the 1999-00 campaign. Partnering with Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway, Billy Owens and Sarunas Marciulionis, Mullin did make the playoffs a number of times in Golden State; toward the end of his Warriors career, Chris Cohan purchased the team and the franchise fell off the rails.
Mullin spent a few post-retirement years working in Golden State's front office, but had a tremendous falling out with management as he was essentially pushed out. As new management (and ownership) has largely taken over the franchise, that seems to have thawed. Mullin has long been considered a potential general manager for the New York Knicks; Mullin is a Brooklyn native, and grew up a big fan of the Earl Monroe-Walt Frazier Knicks.
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