Steven D’Shawn Francis or just Steve Francis was an former American basketball player who played in the NBA for 9 years.
Francis was selected second in the 1999 NBA draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. He publicly announced that he did not want to play for the Grizzlies, citing the distance from his Maryland home, taxes, endorsements, and God’s will. Heavily criticized for his antics, especially in Vancouver, he relented and briefly considered joining the Grizzlies before contentious negotiations and an incident at Vancouver International Airport convinced Francis that he needed to go a separate way.
Francis got his wish, being traded before the 1999–2000 season began to the Houston Rockets in a three-team, 11-player deal that brought Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Antoine Carr and Brent Price, plus first- and second-round picks to the Grizzlies. It was the largest trade in NBA history at that time.
Despite sharing Rookie of the Year honors with Elton Brand and finishing as runner-up to Vince Carter in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, the Francis-led Rockets finished with a 34–48 record.
The next season, the Rockets improved to 45–37 but still missed the playoffs. In his third season, Francis was chosen by fans to start the 2002 NBA All-Star Game, but ended up playing only 55 games due to a foot injury and recurring Ménière’s-induced migraines. As a result, the Rockets posted a dismal 28–54 record, landing them into the lottery, where they selected 7'6" Chinese center Yao Ming with the first pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. Francis and Yao gelled their first season together, being selected as 2003 NBA All-Star Game starters. Francis scored a career-high 44 points in a nationally televised home win against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 17, 2003. The team, despite a 43–39 record, failed to make the playoffs.
Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich stepped down in 2003, and the team selected ex-New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy as his successor. Unfortunately for Francis, Van Gundy’s coaching style did not fit the speedy point guard’s style of play. Even though Francis made the All-Star game for a third straight year his stats declined in 2003–04, dropping from 21.0 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 6.2 APG to 16.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 6.2 APG. The Rockets, however, made the playoffs for the first time since 1999, which would be Francis’ only post-season experience. Despite his averaging 19.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, and 7.6 apg, the Rockets lost to the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers, in five games.
As Francis’ relationship with Van Gundy deteriorated it was apparent that the Rockets wanted to go in a different direction. While the coach sought to focus the team’s offense on Yao Ming, the Rockets ended up trading Francis, along with his best friend on the team Cuttino Mobley, as well as Kelvin Cato, for Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and Reece Gaines.
During Francis’ first tenure in Houston, he averaged 19.3 points, 6.4 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.63 steals in 374 games (372 starts).
At first, Francis was unhappy with the trade to Orlando, but adapted to his new environment. Francis flourished in the “run n’ gun” offense of interim head coach Chris Jent. After posting a career-low 16.6 points per game the previous year with the Rockets, Francis averaged 21.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 7.0 APG in his first season with the Magic. The Magic started out the year fast in the 2004–05 season, with Francis hitting several game-winning shots early in the season. In the middle of the season, Mobley was traded to the Sacramento Kings which upset Francis. The Magic slumped late and missed the playoffs.
The following season, a disgruntled Francis was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. On February 5, 2006, there were rumors that he could be traded to the Denver Nuggets for Earl Watson but they were later dismissed and GM Otis Smith publicly announced that he would not trade Francis. However, rumors persisted that Francis would be traded to the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets or even back to his former team the Houston Rockets.
On February 22, 2006, one day before the NBA’s trade deadline, Steve Francis was traded to the New York Knicks for small forward Trevor Ariza and the expiring contract of shooting guard Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. Prior to the trade, the Denver Nuggets reportedly offered both Watson and Kenyon Martin for Francis, but the deal never took place. He made his Madison Square Garden debut on Friday, February 24 when the New York Knicks faced the New Jersey Nets, and scored 16 points in a 94–90 loss for the Knicks. He wore jersey #1 with the Knicks as his usual #3 was already assigned to Stephon Marbury. Francis has endured a recurring injury, tendinitis in his right knee, and as a result began the 2006–07 season averaging only 11.3 ppg, as opposed to his career 18.4 ppg. He returned on February 10, 2007 vs the Utah Jazz. On March 10, Francis hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer against the Washington Wizards, ending one of his best games as a Knick in front of his hometown. On 2007 draft night, June 28, the Knicks traded Francis and Channing Frye to the Portland Trail Blazers for Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau, and Fred Jones, which then bought out the remaining two years of Francis’s contract for a reported $30 million, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and the L. A. Clippers pursued Francis. On July 20, Francis chose the Rockets, signing a two-year $6 million contract with them, although the Heat offered the most money. However, he failed to make Rick Adelman’s rotation coming out of the preseason. He averaged 5.5 points and 3 assists in ten games before undergoing season-ending surgery stemming from an earlier left quadriceps tendon injury.
Francis used his contract option to come back to the Houston Rockets for the 2008–09 NBA season. He lost 15 pounds for training camp, but he was not able to play in the beginning of the season due to the recovery period of his injury.
On December 24, 2008, the Houston Rockets traded Francis back to the team that had originally drafted him, the Grizzlies, except now, the team was located in Memphis. This trade was for a 2011 conditional draft pick. The move allowed the Rockets to drop under the luxury tax threshold. However, on January 27, 2009, it was reported that Francis was waived by the Grizzlies, without ever appearing in a game for them. No other NBA teams expressed an interest in Francis.
In November 2010, Francis signed with the Beijing Ducks of China. He averaged 0.5 points and 0.7 rebounds over four games, playing 14 minutes, before leaving the team in late December of that same year to return to the United States.
Francis has ventured into several entrepreneurial projects, including a construction company, boxing promotions, a barbershop and clothing line (We R One), as well as a hip-hop record label named Mazerati Music.
Career highlights and awards
- 3× NBA All-Star (2002–2004)
- NBA Rookie of the Year (2000)
- NBA All-Rookie First Team (2000)
- Consensus second-team All-American (1999)
- First-team All-ACC (1999)
