Portland Trail Blazers: 30 greatest players in franchise history

• Played five seasons with Trail Blazers (1976-80, 87-88)
• Averaged 15.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game
• 3-time All-Star and 1x NBA champion with Trail Blazers

Maurice Lucas, or Mo, played two seasons in the ABA before joining the Trail Blazers in 1976 as a 24-year-old. He had already made the All-Star team in the ABA the year prior, and made it four years in a row with three consecutive stellar years in Portland.

The 1976-77 season was a perfect storm of good things for the Trail Blazers. It was the one season that Bill Walton was healthy and played a full season at something close to full-strength. Plus, it was Dave Twardzik’s rookie year in the NBA after coming over from the ABA.

The duo of former ABAers in Lucas and Twardzik was huge ,as both men slotted into the starting lineup and were consistent performers for the Walton-led squad. Lucas averaged 20.2 points and a career-high 11.4 rebounds per game while shooting 46.6 percent from the floor as the leading scorer for the Trail Blazers.

He came up huge in the playoffs, putting up 21.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, as the Trail Blazers fought their way to the NBA Finals. They would beat the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers in six games.

Lucas played two-plus more seasons in Portland before being shipped to the then New Jersey Nets. He played a year-plus there, one year with the New York Knicks and three years with the Phoenix Suns before logging one year each with the Los Angeles Lakers and the then Seattle SuperSonics.

Then, he rounded out his career with a one-year swan-song in Portland, appearing in 73 games at the age of 35 and scoring 6.1 points in 16.3 minutes per contest.