Michael Leeroyall "Mike" Evans (born April 19 1955 in Goldsboro, North Carolina) is a former NBA player and coach. He played collegiately at Kansas State University where he is Kansas State's all-time leading points scorer with 2,115 points. He was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 21st pick of the 1978 NBA Draft and had a 9-year career with four different teams (the San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Denver Nuggets). He was was widely regarded throughout his career as an excellent 3-point shooter, being among the league leaders in that statistical category for several years.

After his retirement as a player, he became an assistant coach with the Nuggets. In 2001, when Dan Issel was fired, Evans assumed coaching duties for the remainder of the 2001-02 season, after which Jeff Bzdelik was hired as the team's head coach. In 2006-07 he was a scout for the Toronto Raptors , and now on the Raptors' coaching staff in 2007-08.

Michael Jonas Evans (November 3 1949 – December 14 2006) (usually credited as Mike Evans), was an American actor and co-creator of the show Good Times with Eric Monte (Ralph Carter's character Michael Evans was named after him).

Evans was born in Salisbury, North Carolina. His father, Theodore Evans Sr., was a dentist, and his mother, Annie Sue Evans, was a school teacher. He attended Palmer Memorial Institute, a private school for young African Americans in Sedalia, N.C. before his family later moved to Los Angeles, where he graduated from Los Angeles High School. He later studied acting at Los Angeles City College.

Evans is most famous for creating the recurring role of Lionel Jefferson on All in the Family and was the first (and eventually final) actor to play Lionel on the spin-off The Jeffersons. He played Lionel on The Jeffersons for much of its 11-year run, with the majority of his appearances occurring from 1979-1983. Opera singer/actor Damon Evans (no relation to Michael) played the role for a few years of The Jeffersons, as Michael was occupied in the production of Good Times. He returned after Good Times was cancelled in 1979.

His last TV role was in 2000, on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. Evans was also a real estate investor and owned properties in California's Inland Empire.

As the original Lionel, his absence was noticed at a Sherman Hemsley TV Land special, which aired on April 26, 2006. Most of the other surviving Jeffersons cast members were present, as well as Sally Struthers and the cast of Amen.

Evans died of throat cancer at his mother's home in Twentynine Palms, California at the age of 57. The announcement of his death was not released until a week later.

Cleancut and smoothly handsome as a youth, Mike Evans got on board the Norman Lear TV train in the early 1970s and took a straight ride to sitcom stardom in both a landmark comedy series and its black-oriented spin-off. Born Michael Jonas Evans in Salisbury, North Carolina, on November 3, 1949, his dentist father and school instructor mother moved the family to Los Angeles when Mike was quite young. Graduating from Los Angeles High School, he attended Los Angeles City College before his abrupt TV success. Landing the role of black next-door neighbor Lionel Jefferson in Lear's iconic sitcom "All in the Family" (1971) was a lucky fluke -- something every fledgling actor should get to experience. In fact, Mike was still attending acting school when he was cast in the 1971 show at age 21. The series altered the course of TV comedy while tackling many then-taboo subjects, including racial prejudice. Due to the quality of the cast and writing, the series managed to thoroughly engage and entertain an audience despite it being fronted by a blue-collar bigot in the form of Archie Bunker (played by the great 'Carroll OConnor). As the calm, intelligent, level-headed Lionel, son of hothead George (Sherman Hemsley) and his beleaguered wife Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford), Lionel's liberal-minded stance was more akin to Archie's live-in younger generation. As friend to Archie's daughter Gloria and his husband Mike, Lionel had to somehow tolerate his grouchy neighbor's exasperating politically-incorrect banter, but made up for it with clever, carefully-worded digs at the often-clueless Archie. During the run of the show, Mike also boosted his visibility with the TV-movies Killer by Night (1972) (TV), Call Her Mom (1972) (TV) and Voyage of the Yes, The (1973) (TV) co-starring Desi Arnaz Jr., not to mention the Disney family comedy feature Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972) starring Kurt Russell (I). The hit series spun the Jefferson clan into their own "moving on up" sitcom "Jeffersons, The" (1975) four years later. The "moving on up" was from Queens to a "deluxe apartment" in Manhattan, where the burgeoning, financially successful George now held court as head intolerant. Mike's character eventually met and fell for Jenny, the beautiful product of an interracial marriage. This became a major source of combustible comedy material that initially fed the new sitcom. In the meantime Mike and writing partner Eric Monte (I) had also co-created and was writing for another Lear sitcom "Good Times" (1974), which was a spin-off of Lear's comedy hit "Maude" (1972), which, in turn, was a spin-off of sitcom daddy "All in the Family" (1971). The major responsibilities and hardships of writing for "Good Times", which became one of the first TV sitcoms to feature a primarily African-American cast in quite some time, took its toll and Mike began making fewer appearances as Lionel. In fact he left the role completely in the fall of 1975 after only eight months to focus on his writing, and was replaced by actor Damon Evans (I) (no relation to Mike), who inhabited the part for four seasons. Mike eventually reclaimed the part in 1979 after the cancellation of "Good Times". His character of Lionel, however, had dwindled so significantly in importance that he left the show again in 1981, this time for good. The family show ended its long run in 1985 after a decade. Mike took on a low profile after his 1970s successes and was not seen again until glimpsed in a 2000 episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger". By this time he had delved into Southern California real estate. He died of throat cancer in 2006 at age 57 at his mother's home in Twentynine Palms, California.