Nov. 7, 2003
The Gary Steelheads, of the CBA, signed a pair of "Kings" to add to their court in 6-2 guard Frankie King, a former Catamount and two-time SoCon Player of the Year, and 6-8 forward Chris King, who played at Wake Forest. The duo has over 100 games of combined NBA experience.
Frankie King was the Los Angeles Lakers' second-round draft pick (37th overall) of the 1995 NBA Draft. He played for the Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Stone Mountain, Ga. native played last season with Gravelines in the France Pro A League, where he averaged 17.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.3 blocked shots 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game.He was All-French Pro A Import Players First Team in 2000-01 while playing for Racing Paris. King, has also played in Greece and Venezuela.
At Western Carolina he was the second leading scorer in the nation in scoring in 1994-95, averaging 26.5 points per game. He also averaged 7.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game respectively.
The 6-foot-8 Chris King has played for the Utah Jazz (1998-99), the Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-96) and the Seattle SuperSonics (1993-94). His best NBA season was in 1995-96 when he averaged 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game with Vancouver. The Wake Forest alumnus played two seasons with the Rockford Lightning in the CBA (1997-98 and 1998-99) as he averaged 17.5 and 18.6 points per game respectively.
Most recently, Chris King played for Sichuan Panda in China, where he averaged 30.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.4 assists per game in the Division 3 Final Tournament. He played last season for Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the Israeli Premier League where he averaged 10.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in nine FIBA Champions Cup games. King has also played in France, Spain and Greece.
At Wake Forest, he averaged 14.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.0 steal as a senior in 1991-92.
Not only was Frankie King a two-time SoCon Player of the Year, but he was a two-time, first team All-Southern Conference pick, scoring 1,495 points in his two years at Western. Catamount fans can get their first look of the year at its current two-time, first-team All-SoCon pick Kevin Martin Saturday night (Nov. 8) as WCU will host Erskine College for an exhibition game at 7 pm. Prior to the game, the Lady Cats will host the Atlanta Blackhawks, a semipro team, at 2 pm in the Ramsey Activity Center. The public is welcome to attend and admission is free to both games.
