He met his wife - Tracey King (nee Paul) - here, his children Tylah (14) and Mojavee (9) were born here, and strangers still recognise him.
Just the other day someone spotted him at the airport and said: "Hey, I remember you and Jerome Fitchett".
The 45-year-old American is one of the greatest players to don a Nuggets' singlet, playing for the franchise from 1991-98.
He formed a dynamic partnership with Fitchett (in 1991) and New Zealand captain Glen Denham in the early '90s and returned for a season in 2004.
His playing career took him to Germany, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg and New Zealand.
After his playing career wound down, King landed a job with Basketball New Zealand as a high-performance coach and was the Tall Blacks assistant coach in 2005 and 2006.
He moved to Australia to coach the Mackay Meteors in North Queensland and is now juggling several positions. He is employed by Basketball Australia and Basketball Queensland as a performance director and also does some work for the Queensland Academy of Sport.
It is his role to make sure the senior athletes have all the resources they need and to help develop the game and identify talent. It is a dream role for King and his family enjoy living Brisbane.
But, whenever possible, the Kings return to Dunedin to visit family. King is here for 12 days and Basketball Otago has taken the opportunity to put his skills to good use.
He will lead a coaching clinic at the Edgar Centre on Sunday, working with the region's representative coaches and some school coaches.
"I like to think I'm a bit of a caretaker for the game," King said.
"Any time there is an opportunity to share some of the knowledge I've been given over the years then I want to make the most of it.
"And certainly with the Nuggets. I have a close affinity with not only the team but also the people here.
"It has been a very hard time for the Nuggets. It was difficult hearing some of the stories. I had put a lot of effort in when I was with the club and it didn't make good reading.
"But a lot of clubs go through a transition period and I'd like to think they are through the worst part of it now and are moving forward."
The Nuggets dropped out of the league for financial reasons in 2009 and were winless in their comeback season in 2010.
The Nuggets broke a 33-game losing streak earlier this year and have signed three Tall Blacks - Mark Dickel, BJ Anthony and Leon Henry - for the 2012 season.
Things are finally looking up for the club but King has a warning for his old team.
"They've got some very exciting signings ... but I think the first thing they need to do is be competitive. You are not going to turn the thing around and win straight away. You just have to be competitive game in and game out and I'd like to think that that can happen this season.
"Once they are competitive, then they can make a push for the championship. But in order to do that, you need to have a real deep team, and I think depth might be a bit of an issue."
