Background and career
Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a five-time NBA All-Star and four-time All-NBA Team member. He is also two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a member of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team—"The Dream Team"—and in 2011 for his individual career). Mullin played shooting guard and small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1985 to 2001. During his college basketball career for the St. John's Redmen, he was named Big East Player of the Year three times and was a member of the 1984 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball team, Mullin was chosen as the seventh pick by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft. He returned to the Olympics in 1992 as a member of the "Dream Team", which was the first American Olympic basketball team to include professional players. He played with the Warriors from 1985 until 1997. Thereafter, Mullin played with the Indiana Pacers from 1997 until the 1999–2000 season. He retired after the 2000–01 season, playing for his original team, the Warriors. He later served as special advisor for the Sacramento Kings and general manager of the Golden State Warriors. Mullin served as the head coach of the Red Storm men's basketball team from 2015 to 2019.
Mullin was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a young player in New York, he studied the games of Knicks stars Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe while admiring Larry Bird and wearing #17 in honor of John Havlicek. As a youth, he regularly traveled to the Bronx and Harlem, in predominantly Black neighborhoods, to play against the best basketball players in New York City. His name began to spread while playing CYO basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish on Flatlands Avenue. He was also a winner of the 1974 "Elks Hoops Shoot" which is a national free throw contest for youth. Along with playing CYO basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Mullin attended Lou Carnesecca's basketball camp with future Xaverian teammates Roger McCready, Danny Treacy, Jimmy Howard, Gerard Shepard, Mike O'Reilly, Joe Cannizzo and Pete Cannizzo. Mullin began his high school career at Power Memorial Academy, where he was a teammate of Mario Elie. He transferred as a junior to Xaverian High School and led them to a New York Class A state championship in 1981.
Mullin was recruited by the Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca to play for St. John's University in nearby Queens. After signing, Mullin averaged 16.6 points per game in his freshman year (also setting the school freshman record for points scored). In his subsequent three years for the Redmen (now known as the Red Storm), he was named Big East Player of the Year three times, named to the All-America team three times, played for the gold medal-winning 1984 Olympic team, and received the 1985 Wooden Award and USBWA College Player of the Year. As a senior who averaged 19.8 points per game, Mullin led St. John's to the 1985 Final Four and its first #1 ranking since 1951. Mullin, who averaged 19.5 points per game, finished his career as the Redmen's all-time leading scorer with 2,440 career points. He also holds the distinction of being one of only three players in history to win the Haggerty Award (given to the best college player in the New York City area) three times (1983–1985). From 1983 to 1985, Mullin was also named the Big East conference's player of the year, making him the only men's basketball player to receive this award three different seasons.
In the 1985 NBA draft, the Golden State Warriors selected Mullin in the first round with the seventh pick. In Mullin's first three seasons with the Warriors, he was primarily a spot-up shooting guard playing in the backcourt alongside Eric "Sleepy" Floyd. In his second season, 1986–87, the Warriors advanced to the Western Conference semifinals under George Karl, where they lost to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The next season, Don Nelson became the Warriors' coach and had plans to move Mullin to small forward. During his third season in the NBA, Mullin admitted to Nelson that he was an alcoholic. After missing several practices, Mullin was suspended, then entered an alcohol rehabilitation program. For five consecutive seasons, from 1988 until 1993, Mullin scored an average of 25 or more points and five rebounds. Additionally, the Warriors made five straight playoff appearances. Mullin, Mitch Richmond, and 1989 first-round draftee Tim Hardaway formed the trio "Run TMC" (the initials of the players' first names and a play on the name of the popular rap group Run–D.M.C.) that were the focal stars of this playoff run. Mullin was a five-time All-Star during his time in Golden State and won his second Olympic gold medal in 1992 as a member of the Dream Team. In 1993, Nelson traded for Chris Webber on NBA Draft day, hoping to make the Warriors stronger in the frontcourt. Mullin's body began breaking down, and he began to miss significant numbers of games. The Warriors had a successful first season with Webber, but he and Nelson began to bicker over his use as a player. This led Nelson to resign, and subsequent coaches saw Mullin as injury-prone and began to center the team around Latrell Sprewell.
Mullin was traded after the 1996–97 season to the Indiana Pacers for second-year center Erick Dampier and NBA journeyman Duane Ferrell. In his first season with the Pacers, coached by Larry Bird, Mullin started all 82 games, averaged 11.3 points per game, and helped the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in seven games. He had a career high in 3-point shots made (107) and led the NBA in free-throw percentage (.939) that season as well. Bird began to phase Mullin out and give more time to Jalen Rose at small forward during his second season with the team. As a member of the Indiana Pacers, Mullin, who was primarily a bench player at this time, appeared in three games of the 2000 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and scored four points total. After that season, Mullin was waived by the Pacers.
Mullin again signed with Warriors for the 2000–01 season, his last season as a player.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
