In June, a sudden death shocked Chicago sports, one where there were a lot of unanswered questions. Stacey King fell at home; after an autopsy, and a medical examiner’s office warning that results could take weeks. Two months later, that answer has finally arrived.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, on Monday, determined that Stacey King died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to a report from the New York Post. A spokesperson for the office said long-term high blood pressure caused the condition, with obesity listed as a contributing factor, and the manner of death was ruled natural.

King, 59, was found dead at his River Forest, Illinois home on the morning of June 7 after what was initially reported as a fall. The medical examiner’s office had ordered additional testing at the time, delaying any official determination for weeks while tributes continued pouring in from across the basketball world.

The news hit hard across the Bulls organization and the wider NBA. Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf called King “a cherished member of the Bulls family and one of the truly unique personalities in our organization’s history,” while Michael Jordan, King’s teammate on all three championship runs, said the two “shared some special years together” during an era that helped define the franchise.

President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf added that “Stacey loved being a Bull” and he “had a unique gift for bringing people together and making every game feel personal.”

The NBA issued its own statement honoring King’s two decades as “the unmistakable voice” of Bulls broadcasts, and Chicago Sports Network president Michael McCarthy remembered him as someone with “a unique ability to connect generations of Bulls fans.”

A Career That Spanned the Court and the Booth

Stacey King was drafted sixth overall by the Bulls in 1989 out of Oklahoma, where he was a consensus first-team All-American. He spent five seasons in Chicago and won three consecutive titles alongside Jordan from 1991 to 1993.

His playing career continued with stops in Minnesota, Dallas, Boston and Miami, closing out an eight-year run in which he averaged 6.4 points and 3.3 rebounds across 438 games.

After a brief coaching stint in the CBA, King joined the Bulls’ broadcast team in 2006 and became part of Chicago basketball for nearly two decades as a color analyst known for his humor and candor.

That combination, a title-winning player turned beloved broadcaster, is why his death was felt hard as it was in June, and why the confirmation of a natural cause months later can now offer the city something it didn’t have at the time: an actual answer.