Glen Rice Trade
Three-time All-Star and 2000 NBA champion who began his career with the Miami Heat.
Glen Anthony Rice Sr. (born May 28, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA. As a small forward, Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star and made 1,559 three-point field goals during his 15-year career. He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines and was selected by the Miami Heat with the fourth overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft. He won an NCAA championship in 1989 and an NBA championship in 2000.
- Player Acquired
- Glen Rice
- Acquisition Year
- 1989
- Trading Partner
- Charlotte Hornets
- Role
- Starting Small Forward / Sixth Man
- Status
- Retired Legend
- Key Achievement
- Traded before Heat's first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 1997
Lore & Background
Days before the start of the 1995–96 season, newly hired Coach/GM Pat Riley organized a trade in which Rice was sent to the Charlotte Hornets along with Matt Geiger in exchange for disgruntled Hornets center Alonzo Mourning. Rice never played alongside Mourning on the Heat; Mourning was acquired in exchange for Rice. Rice did not lead the Heat to their first Eastern Conference Finals; he was traded before that run.
In Their Own Story
The arena hummed with a different energy on opening night of '97. As Glen Rice stepped onto the hardwood at the American Airlines Arena, wearing the red and black for the first time, the crowd sensed a shift. He didn't need to shout; his presence spoke volumes. With a quick catch-and-shoot motion from the corner, he drained a three-pointer that silenced the doubters. In that moment, the Heat were no longer just survivors of the lottery; they were hunters.
Reader's Guide
Rice played for the Miami Heat from 1989 to 1995, then for the Charlotte Hornets from 1995 to 1999, and finally for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999 to 2000, winning an NBA championship with the Lakers in 2000.
Did You Know?
- Rice scored a career-high 56 points in a 1995 game against the Orlando Magic.
- He won the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1997 after scoring 26 points.
- Rice set an NCAA tournament record with 184 points in the 1989 tournament, a record later broken (e.g., by Jalen Brunson with 191 points in 2018).
- He is the father of former NBA player Glen Rice Jr.
More in Club History & Eras
Elsewhere in the Miami Heat universe
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