David Bing (born November 24, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player, businessman, and politician who served as the 74th mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 2009 to 2014.

After starring at Syracuse University, Bing played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a point guard for the Detroit Pistons (1966–1975), Washington Bullets (1975–1977), and Boston Celtics (1977–78).

Soon the business grew into the multimillion-dollar Detroit-based conglomerate, the Bing Group, one of the largest steel companies in Michigan.

Bing entered Detroit politics as a Democrat in 2008, announcing his intentions to run for mayor in the city's non-partisan primary to finish the term of Kwame Kilpatrick, who had resigned amid a corruption scandal.

However, he lost most of his power to Detroit's emergency manager Kevyn Orr, had numerous health problems, and suffered approval ratings as low as 14%.

Bing was born November 24, 1943, in Washington, D.C., to mother Juanita, a housekeeper, and father Hasker, a bricklayer and deacon for the local Baptist church.

[4] However, he played well, triumphing over such older and bigger children as future Motown musician Marvin Gaye, who, after not performing well on the court, chose to sing on the sidelines.

Despite his basketball play, Bing, a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson, focused primarily on baseball, the neighborhood's preferred game.

[7] He continued also to compete in baseball into his senior year, but was forced to choose between it and basketball when a scheduling conflict between two tournaments arose.

[4] Though he felt he was better at baseball, Bing opted for basketball, believing it gave him a greater chance at a full-ride college scholarship,[8] well aware of the path taken by Los Angeles Lakers forward Elgin Baylor, a Spingarn alum.

As a lean, athletic and explosive point guard, he functioned as the playmaker distributing the ball, but also did more shooting and scoring than most others who had this position.

On November 23, 1968, Bing recorded a triple-double of 39 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in a 127–128 loss to the Baltimore Bullets.

After leaving the Detroit Pistons, Bing went on to spend his next two seasons with the Washington Bullets, for whom he was named an NBA All-Star once more in 1976, this time winning the game's MVP Award.

[11] At age 22 with an NBA contract worth $15,000, Bing was rebuffed by the National Bank of Detroit on getting a mortgage to finance a home.

This led Bing to work at the bank during the offseason, holding jobs in the teller, customer relations, and mortgage departments.

By 1984, Bing was awarded by President Ronald Reagan the National Minority Small Business Person of the Year.

[15] Bing led Detroit's effort to receive the rights to host the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

[17] In January 2009, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Bing received the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award.

[22] The city government's fiscal troubles persisted under Bing, with Detroit suffering increased budget deficits during much of his tenure.

[22] Due to the importance of the automotive industry to Detroit, Bing was involved in discussions related to the 2009 auto bailout.

This included both the opening of new small businesses, an investment of $198 million by Chrysler in its Mack Avenue Engine Plant (which created 250 new jobs), and significant development in the city's downtown by businessman Dan Gilbert.

[33] Bing spoke of his intention to depopulate neighborhoods, including through forcible means such as eminent domain.

[39] In 2012, Bing persuaded the state legislature and governor to create the Public Lighting Authority of Detroit and dedicate utility and income tax revenue for the $185 million in bonds for this purpose.

Bing appointed a lighting authority board, which then signed a contract with DTE Energy to repair the city's streetlights.

[22] While he gave no explicit reason for the firing, it was speculated that Bing dismissed the first police chief of his mayoralty, Warren Evans, both due to the police raid that resulted in the killing of Aiyana Jones and due to Bing's dissatisfaction with Warren's pursuit of media exposure through participation in reality television shows such as The First 48.

[42][43] Even as crime in large cities was declining overall in the United States, Detroit saw its homicide rate rise to a 20-year high in 2012.

[44] Renovation occurred while Bing was mayor, taking place under the management of a new cooperative governing authority for the convention center.

[22] In July 2013, before Bing left office, Detroit became the largest city in United States history to declare municipal bankruptcy.

[22] In addition to losing authority to the emergency manager, Bing suffered numerous health problems,[50] and had seen approval ratings as low as 14%.

[52] In August 2023, Bing endorsed Elissa Slotkin's candidacy for the 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan.