Michael Jerome Cage Sr. (born January 28, 1962) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and current broadcast analyst for the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

Basketball career

A 6'9"

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

from

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, he is the Aztecs' all-time rebounding leader and second leading scorer as of 2011. Cage was the 14th pick of the

1984 NBA draft The 1984 NBA draft was the 37th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, on June 19, 1984, before the 1984–85 season. The draft is generally c ...

. He played 15 NBA seasons (1984–2000) with five teams: the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

, the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

, the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

and the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. On January 19, 1987, Cage scored a career-high 29 points in a loss against the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

. During the 1987-88 season when, as a member of the Clippers, he led the league in rebounding with 13.0 per game. He was on a personal duel with

Charles Oakley Charles Oakley (born December 18, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. Oakley played for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association ...

, who was playing with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

at the time. Cage needed to register 28 rebounds in his final game to beat out Oakley for the rebounding title. He ended up grabbing 30. Just weeks later, during the

1988 NBA Draft The 1988 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1988, in New York City, New York. The length was reduced from seven rounds in the previous year to three rounds. This was also the first draft for the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, prior to their i ...

, Cage was traded to the

for a future first round pick and Gary Grant. During his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

in Seattle, Cage would make the postseason for the first time in his career. Several years later, during the 1993 NBA Playoffs, Cage and the SuperSonics would come within one game of reaching the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

, losing to the

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Natio ...

-led Suns in seven games. During his career, Cage earned the nicknames "

John Shaft John Shaft is a fictional character created by author/screenwriter Ernest Tidyman for the 1970 novel of the same name. He was portrayed by Richard Roundtree in the original 1971 film and in its four sequels, ''Shaft's Big Score!'' (1972), ''Shaf ...

" and "

Windex Windex is an American brand of glass and hard-surface cleaner that was invented by the Drackett Company in 1933 and has been marketed throughout the intervening decades—originally in glass containers, later in plastic ones. Drackett sold the W ...

man" (as in "cleaning the

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

") for his rebounding prowess and hard work on defense. Cage held the record for most career 3-point attempts without a make (0–25) until

Zaza Pachulia Zaza Pachulia ( ka, ზაზა ფაჩულია; born Zaur Pachulia; February 10, 1984) is a Georgian professional basketball executive and former player who is a basketball operations consultant for the Golden State Warriors of the Nati ...

reached 0–26 for his career during the 2017–2018 season. Pachulia retired after the 2018 - 2019 season and he still holds the record at 0 - 31. Cage's final game ever was on January 17, 2000 in a 96 - 101 loss to the

where he recorded 3 rebounds and 1 assist, but no points.

Personal life

Cage and his wife Jodi have three children: Alexis, Michael, Jr. and Sydney. On September 17, 2014, the

announced Cage would be joining their broadcast team, replacing analyst

Grant Long Grant Andrew Long (born March 12, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. He played over 1,000 games for the National Basketball Association over a 15-year career. Long had two relatives who were playing in the NBA during hi ...

References

External links

Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cage, Michael 1962 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players American sports announcers Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Basketball players from Arkansas Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers players College basketball announcers in the United States Los Angeles Clippers announcers Los Angeles Clippers players Los Angeles Lakers announcers Memphis Grizzlies announcers New Jersey Nets players Oklahoma City Thunder announcers Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in basketball People from West Memphis, Arkansas Philadelphia 76ers players Phoenix Suns announcers Power forwards (basketball) San Diego Clippers draft picks San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball players Seattle SuperSonics players Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Basketball career

Personal life

See also

References

External links