Ex-Suns GM Lance Blanks’ daughter reveals TRAGIC CAUSE of father’s untimely death

Riley Blanks Reed shares an emotional letter on ESPN about her father’s suicide.

Ex-Suns GM Lance Blanks’ daughter reveals TRAGIC CAUSE of father’s untimely death

Lance Blanks was the Suns’ GM from 2010 to 2013. (Via Getty Images)

Riley Blanks Reed, the daughter of former NBA player and executive Lance Blanks, shared a heartbreaking letter on ESPN on Tuesday morning, revealing that her father died by suicide last week. He was 56.

Lance Blanks’ death shocked and saddened many people in the basketball world, who expressed their condolences and tributes on social media.

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How Riley keeps her father Lance Blanks in her fond memory

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Lance Blanks (L) and his daughter Riley Blanks (R) (Via KUT 90.5)

Riley wrote that her father was everything to her: “my person, my idol, my teacher, my best friend and my confidant.” She said he was “a leader and a guardian angel” who always supported her and was there for her in the darkest times.

She also wrote that she doesn’t know why her father took his own life, and that she doesn’t need to. “All we need to do is remember him, honor him, celebrate him, and pour our love into the family that made him happy,” she wrote.

She said her father left a void that cannot be filled, but she finds comfort in the promise to honor him with everything he left them. “In the loving embrace of my sister, Bryn, I will remember that we are forever connected to the remarkable man who was our world.”

Who was Blanks as a basketball player and executive?

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Lance Blanks for Detroit Pistons (Via NBA.com)

Lance Blanks was born in Del Rio, Texas, to Sid Blanks, a former NFL and AFL player. He attended McCullough High School in The Woodlands, Texas, where he was named Texas Mr Basketball and a third-team Parade All-American in 1985.

Blanks was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft with the 26th overall pick. He played three seasons in the NBA with the Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves. He also played one season in the CBA and three seasons in Europe, winning championships in Hungary and Cyprus.

Blanks also worked as a scout and a front-office executive for several NBA teams, most notably as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns from 2010 to 2013. He later joined ESPN as an analyst for the Longhorn Network.

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