• Categories

    • Unexpected and Tragic Deaths in NBA History

    by admin in Basketball Wiki | Comments Off on Unexpected and Tragic Deaths in NBA History

    Sudden and unexpected deaths are always very painful, though, unexpected deaths are rare in sports but whenever such kind of incident happens to a player, it makes everyone stunned. Not only the relatives and the close ones feel the pain but the millions of fans as well who are emotionally involved with their favorite player. In the history of NBA, some players suffered a tragic death, have a look on the list given below.

    Reggie Lewis

    Reggie Lewis was the star player of the Boston Celtics. On July 27, 1993, he suffered a fatal incident. On that day, Reggie Lewis was doing an off-season practice at the gymnasium of Brandeis University, Massachusetts. While shooting the baskets, he suddenly collapsed on the floor; he was hurriedly taken to the hospital, where 2 hours later, he was pronounced dead due to the  heart attack.

     Eddie Griffin

    Eddie Griffin was a young talented basketball player, who played for Houston Rockets and later on for Minnesota Timberwolves. On August 7, 2007, he died in a car crash at the young age of 25. It was reported by the police that he ignored the railroad warning; while crossing his sport utility vehicle through the barrier, he struck with a moving train. As a result the vehicle burst into flames. His body was badly burned and identified through a dental examination.

     Jason Collier

    Jason Collier was the professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks. During the NBA off-season, on October, 15, 2005, he died from a sudden heart rhythm disturbance. Autopsy indicated that collier had an enlarged heart which caused him trouble breathing and resulted in the death of a 28 years old basketball player.

     Malik Sealy

    Malik Sealy was the active basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves, when he died on May 20, 2000. He was driving home from a teammate’s birthday celebration, on the way to the home his sport utility vehicle crashed into a truck coming from wrong side. The drunken truck driver was arrested and was sentenced to four year in prison.

     Len Bias

    Len Bias was a young basketball player who died from a cardiac arrhythmia, just 2 days after being selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA draft. On June19, after attending an off-campus gathering, he returned to his residence hall and was talking with the teammate when he collapsed on the couch. It was thought that he was sitting and leaning back as to go into the sleep, but instead he was unconscious and was not breathing. He was carried to the hospital through ambulance where he was announced dead of a cardiac arrhythmia, most likely reason was the overdose of cocaine, which he had ingested at some earlier point.

     Pete Maravich

    Pete Maravich played basketball mostly for Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Jazz and Boston Celtics for a short period of time. On January 5, 1988, he died suddenly, while playing a pickup basketball game in a gym at a church in California. Autopsy revealed that he was died of a heart disease. He was found to have a rare congenital defect, a single coronary artery (a vessel which supplies blood to the heart muscle) it was triggered and shut off the blood flow to majority of the heart muscle. 

     Ricky Berry

    Rick Berry was the bright and emerging basketball player for the Sacramento Kings. He started his professional career in 1988. In 1989 NBA off-season, and just weeks before his 25th birthday, Berry was found dead at his home in California on August 14, 1989. He shot himself in the head after an argument with his wife. The cause of death was remained unknown, as there was no indication of the financial problems, drug issue or depression.

     Bobby Phills

    Bobby Phills was the active member of the Charlotte Hornets, when he died in a car accident on January 12, 2000. He was driving a black Porsche at a very high speed, more than 75 mph when he lost control of the car, skidded into oncoming traffic and collided into another car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believed that he was racing with the teammate David Wesley.

     Lorenzen Wright

    Lorenzen Wright had announced his retirement from the professional basketball in 2009. On July 18, 2010, he went to meet his ex-wife’s home in Tennessee, after leaving home; he was not seen or heard again. His family filed a missing persons report on July 22. After Wright’s decomposed body was found on July 28 in a wooded area on Callis Cutoff Road, it was said that a 911 call had been received from his cell phone in the early morning of July 19 by the Germantown Tennessee 911 dispatch center; the dispatcher acknowledged hearing noises like gun shots before the call was dropped. The case was invested by the police as a suicide.

    Nick Vanos

    Nick Vanos played professional basketball for the Phoenix Suns. His career with the Suns lasted only two years before coming to a tragic end. On August 16, 1987, Vanos and his fiancée boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 255 for a trip to Arizona. The plane crashed on takeoff from the airport in Michigan, killing 154 passengers including crew.

    Terry Furlow

    Terry Furlow was a member of the Utah Jazz in 1979-80. He was killed in a car accident on May 23, 1980, at the age of 25, when his automobile crashed into a pole on a highway near Ohio. He was suspected of being using cocaine.

    Conrad McRae

    Conrad McRae was an American professional basketball player picked by the Washington Bullets in the 2nd round of the1993 NBA Draft. He mostly played basketball in European countries (France, Italy, Greece and Turkey). On July 10, 2000, McRae collapsed and died during a practice with the Orlando Magic’s summer league team at the University of California. An autopsy failed to determine the cause of death, but McRae had a history of heart disease, arrhythmia, it was supposed that he was died from the heart disease.

    Bison Dele

    Bison Dele played basketball for teams in NBA and announced his retirement before the start of 1999-2000 season at the age of 30. In July 2002, Dele and his girlfriend were sailing in the South Pacific Ocean, when they disappear during the cruise. Investigation indicated that Dele was murdered by his brother and then thrown into the sea, his body was never been found.

    Fernando Martin

    Martin was the first Spanish player to play in the NBA; he played for the Portland Trail Blazers. He played only 24 games for Portland before he was injured and returned to the Spain again. On December 3, 1989, Martin died in a car accident, his car crashed into another vehicle, leaving him injured and eventually dead.

    Robert Traylor

    Robert Traylor played basketball not only in NBA but also for the teams in Puerto Rico, Spain, Italy and Turkey. On Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Traylor was found dead at his apartment in Puerto Rico. The cause of death was seemed to be the heart attack. It was said that he was talking to his wife on the phone at the time. A connection was suddenly lost, at which point his wife alerted team officials to investigate.




    Related posts

    Tags: ,

    Comments are closed.