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Former Cleveland Cavaliers executive Lance Blanks dies at 56

Blanks was an assistant general manager for the Cavaliers from 2005-10.

DALLAS — Lance Blanks, who played in the NBA for three seasons and later worked as a scout and front office executive, has died, his family announced Thursday. He was 56.

Blanks died Wednesday in Dallas, his family said in a statement distributed by the NBA.

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He was a former general manager of the Phoenix Suns, an assistant general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers and a scout for the San Antonio Spurs and most recently the Los Angeles Clippers. Blanks also played for the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Blanks joined the Cavs in 2005, serving as an assistant GM under then general manger Danny Ferry. He left Cleveland in 2010 to become GM of the Suns.

"Lance Blanks served as Assistant General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-10. His personality and work ethic left a lasting impact on the organization," the Cavs wrote in a statement on Twitter. "We send our deepest condolences to the Blanks family and everyone whose life he touched."

“Lance was a light for all those who knew him,” said NBA executive Joe Dumars, one of his Detroit teammates. “It’s been a privilege to have called him one of my closest friends. I’m eternally grateful for all the support he has shown me throughout the years. His legacy will be carried on, not only by his family, but by all those whose lives he touched for the better.”

Blanks played college basketball at Virginia and Texas, which inducted him into the Longhorns Hall of Honor in 2007. The Pistons drafted him in the first round in 1990.

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