It’s always tragic to see someone die young, especially when that person is a player at the peak of their NBA career. Some players have underlying health conditions, while others find themselves in tragic circumstances. Either way, dying young is always a tragedy. These are 10 NBA players who died during their careers.
Which NBA players met their unfortunate demise while still playing in the league?
10. Conrad McRae
McRae was drafted near the end of the second round in the 1993 NBA draft. In high school, he earned the nickname “McNasty” at New York’s Rucker Park. He played at Syracuse under head coach Jim Boeheim before he moved on to play in Europe, eventually starring in several European clubs in Turkey, France, Italy and Greece. The former McDonald’s All-American collapsed and died while running wind sprints during an Orlando Magic summer league practice at the University of California, Irvine during the summer of 2000. An autopsy failed to determine the cause of death, but McRae had a history of arrhythmia.
9. Reggie Lewis
At the age of 27, Lewis died while still a member of the Celtics, and his number was posthumously retired by the team. On July 27, 1993, during off-season practice at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, Lewis suffered sudden cardiac death on the basketball court. His death was attributed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a structural heart defect that is the most common cause of death in young athletes. On March 22, 1995, the Boston Celtics retired Lewis’ jersey. Lewis had worn the number 35 for his entire career.
8. Eddie Griffin
Griffin’s life was cut short by a car crash just months after the Minnesota Timberwolves waived him from the team. Griffin was the 7th overall pick in 2001 and immediately traded the rights him over to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jason Collins, Brandon Armstrong, and Richard Jefferson. Off the court, Griffin suffered from alcoholism, and his troubles piled up quickly over the ensuing year. In December 2003, the Rockets released him after he missed practices and engaged in a team fight. Griffin signed with the Nets in January 2004, only to miss the entire 2003–04 season when he entered an alcohol rehabilitation center.
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Griffin’s final NBA game was played on December 13, 2006, in an 82–95 Timberwolves loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Griffin played for 48 seconds and recorded no stats except for a missed three-pointer, his only such attempt of the season. Griffin died as a result of a car crash on August 17, 2007, at approximately 1:30 a.m. Houston police said in a report that Griffin ignored a railroad warning and went through a barrier before striking a moving train. The resulting fire burned Griffin’s SUV and the side of a railcar carrying plastic granules. Griffin’s body was badly burned and there was no initial identification. Dental records later revealed the man was Griffin. He had more than three times the legal alcohol limit in his system when he crashed, according to an autopsy report.
7. Bryce DeJean Jones
Jones was an Iowa State University legend, the likes of Tyrese Haliburton. Jones signed with the New Orleans Pelicans after going undrafted and tragically was killed when he was shot after kicking open the locked front door and locked bedroom door of a Camden Belmont Dallas apartment which he mistakenly thought belonged to his girlfriend. He was visiting his girlfriend, who lived on the floor above, for their daughter’s first birthday. Dejean-Jones intended to re-enter her apartment after leaving to take a walk following an argument with her, but instead went to another apartment one floor below his girlfriend’s apartment on the fourth floor.
The resident, who had been sleeping, thought that the person breaking in intended to harm him, so he proceeded to retrieve and fire a handgun in self-defense at Dejean-Jones through the bedroom door, striking him in the abdomen. Jones, 23, was pronounced dead at a Dallas hospital, where he became the first active player to die since Griffin.
6. Jason Collier
Collier was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th overall pick of the 2000 NBA draft. He was traded on draft day to the Houston Rockets in exchange for their pick, Joel Przybilla. During the NBA off-season, Collier died suddenly at the age of 28 on October 15, 2005, in Cumming, Georgia. His autopsy indicated that he died because of a sudden heart rhythm disturbance caused by an abnormally enlarged heart. Even for a seven-foot NBA player, his heart was unusually large. The Hawks wore permanent black shoulder patches on their uniforms to honor Collier that year.
5. Bobby Phillis
Former NBA All-Defensive Second Team, Phillis is one of the few players to have his number retired by the Hornets franchise. Though he made a name for himself as a shooter during his college career, Phills became known as a tenacious wing defender in the NBA. At 6’5 and 220 pounds, he was said to more resemble an NFL linebacker than a basketball player. Michael Jordan regarded him as the toughest player he’d ever faced. On January 12, 2000, while a member of the Charlotte Hornets, Phills was killed in a car accident in Charlotte, North Carolina. Phills was traveling behind teammate David Wesley at over 100 MPH when his Porsche spun and crossed into oncoming traffic, killing him instantly.
4. Malik Sealy
Sealy was drafted by the Indiana Pacers with the 14th overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. Sealy was killed in St. Louis Park, Minnesota on May 20, 2000. He was driving home from a birthday celebration for teammate and best friend Kevin Garnett in downtown Minneapolis when his sport utility vehicle was struck by a pickup truck traveling the wrong way down the highway. The truck was driven by 43-year-old Souksangouane Phengsene, who survived the accident with head and chest injuries. Neither driver was wearing a seatbelt.
Phengsene’s airbag deployed, but Sealy’s SUV did not have one. Blood tests indicated that at the time of the accident, Phengsene was driving drunk. His blood alcohol content was 0.19%. The legal limit in Minnesota at the time was 0.1%. He pleaded guilty to a charge of vehicular manslaughter, was given a four-year prison term, and was released from prison in 2003 before he was arrested again in 2008 on charges of drinking and driving again.
Also read: 10 NBA Players That Would Definitely Be Hall Of Famers If It Weren’t For One Mistake
3. Ricky Berry
Berry was a legend at San Jose State University before going 18th overall to the Sacramento Kings in 1988. Berry was the son of legendary Michigan State athlete Bill Berry. In the 1989 off-season, at age 24, the NBA player was found dead after a self-inflicted gunshot. He had shown no signs of depression but left a suicide note in which he reportedly wrote that his wife did not love him and was taking advantage of him. His number was retired by San Jose State and his life serves as a mile marker for mental health.
2. Len Bias
The most infamous NBA death, Len Bias was a two-time consensus All-American for the University of Maryland. Heralded as the next Michael Jordan, teams viewed Bias as the most complete forward in the class of 1986. The Celtics took the star with the second overall pick. On June 19, 1986, just days after the draft, Bias, with longtime friend Brian Tribble and several teammates, snorted cocaine in the dormitory suite shared by Bias and his teammates for over 4 hours. Bias reportedly had a seizure and collapsed while talking with teammate Terry Long.
All attempts by the emergency medical team to restart his heart and breathing were unsuccessful. After additional attempts to revive him at Leland Memorial Hospital in Riverdale, Maryland, Bias was pronounced dead at 8:55 a.m. of a cardiac arrhythmia related to usage of cocaine.
A few weeks after Bias’ death, committees in the United States House of Representatives began writing anti-drug legislation. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was signed by President Ronald Reagan on October 27, 1986. The law provided a mandatory minimum prison term of 20 years and a maximum life sentence, along with a fine of up to $2 million, for cases of drug distribution that led to the death or serious injury of a person. It is also known as the “Len Bias Law”.
1. Dražen Petrović
Petrović had the fullest NBA career of anyone on this list. Petrović earned two silver medals (1988, 1992) and one bronze (1984) at the Summer Olympic Games, a gold (1990) and a bronze (1986) at the FIBA World Cup, and a gold (1989) and a bronze (1987) at the FIBA EuroBasket. He was the FIBA World Championship MVP in 1986 and the FIBA EuroBasket MVP in 1989. With Cibona Zagreb, Petrović also won two consecutive EuroLeague championships in 1985 and 1986. He first represented Yugoslavia’s senior national team and later Croatia’s senior national team. He earned four Euroscars and was named Mr. Europa twice. In 1985, he received the Golden Badge award for the best athlete of Yugoslavia.
Petrović died in a traffic accident at about 5:20 p.m. on June 7, 1993. That same year, Petrović’s jersey number, 3, was retired by the Nets, and the Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall was named after him in his honor. In 2002, the former Nets player was posthumously enshrined into the NBA Hall of Fame.
Also read: 10 NBA Players That Definitely Could’ve Played in the NFL
