Joe Axelson, the former front office executive and general manager, first for the Cincinnati Royals, and then remained with the franchise when it moved to Kansas City-Omaha, where they became the Kings, and then traveled to the West Coast to Sacramento, has died at the age of 80.

Cause of death has not yet been determined.

As reported by The AP:

Over his career with the Royals-Kings franchise, he was responsible for some controversial trades, including swapping Oscar Robertson to Milwaukee in 1970 after Robertson squabbled with coach Bob Cousy and asked to leave Cincinnati. The Royals had to settle for Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson in the trade.

Axelson at other times traded away Jerry Lucas, Nate Archibald and Norm Van Lier.

Among his moves as president of the Kings in Sacramento was to hire former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell as coach. Russell previously had coached at Boston and Seattle, but had been out of coaching for 10 years. The Kings foundered, Russell didn't last a full season before being moved into the front office, and Axelson was demoted to vice president in charge of business operations.

Axelson is survived by sons David and Mark; daughter Linda; and six grandchildren.

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