In memoriam: 25 former NBA players who passed away in 2023

[GSWFan1994]

Watch on YouTube

The video does a pretty good job in summarizing each player's career, including many, many photos.

Surprisingly, there are many All-Stars in the list.

Also worth mentioning, a great deal of guys who played in other pro sports besides the NBA.

Here's the list:

Chris Ford
Charles Nash
Bud Grant
Otto Graham
Felton Spencer
Lance Blanks
Stanley Von Nieda (he is, so far, the only NBA player in history to reach 100 years old)
Brandon Hunter
Terry Dischinger
Johnny Green
Ryan Minor
Eric Montross
Dedric Willoughby
George Wilson
Bingo Smith (whose jersey is retired by the Cavaliers)
Willie McCarthy
Walter Davis
George McGinnis
Willis Reed
Billy Turner
Ernie Barrett
Dick Groat
Floyd Kerr
Ahmad Aliyy
Charles Jordan

RIP to all those members of the NBA fraternity.

[Cubbies2120]

Spoiler:

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

Come on, man. This was a really nice thread and you derailed it in the first reply. Even if you meant this as a genuine question as you say, how the hell would anyone answer it?

In conclusion: don't derail threads with vaccine nonsense. -b.

[IMF]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

You've got to be kidding me.

[OhMyGodBecky]

Houdini of the Hardwood still kicking @ age 95. Respeck to Cooz, but RIP to these fine gentlemen in the OP.

[NyKnicks1714]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

You've got to be kidding me.

I swear these people have alerts set up for any mention of fatalities or any medical issue so they can rush to their phones or keyboards and rant about vaccines. And "turbo cancer", give me a break.

[baldur]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

according to research, playing basketball eliminates 85 percent of the conspired effects of COVID-19 vaccination. this rate increases in accordance with the number of triple-doubles you have had during your NBA career. so basically the more triple-double, the less death due to vaccine.

[jkvonny]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

C'mon, dude.
Don't taint a good thread.

BTW, RIP to all of these great players.

[IMF]

Hopefully the mods take care of the garbage derail above, anyway...

RIP to Indiana legend George Mcginnis, Indiana Mr. Basketball, played for IU and the Pacers winning two championships in the ABA. Dude was an absolute beast. Lebron lite in terms of body and athleticism.

[OhMyGodBecky]

Chris Ford had a full basketball life, man. Played alongside the likes of Dave Bing, Bob Lanier, Bird/Parish/McHale. Reached a Final Four in college. Coached by Dick Vitale, Satch Sanders, Dave Cowens, & Bill Fitch. Later coached Bird/Parish/McHale and briefly Ray Allen, Dominique Wilkins, & Allen Iverson. Appeared in The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh film.

Oh, and that 3pt shot thing.

[Laimbeer]

Bud Grant
Otto Graham

We sure these are all basketball players?

[MrGoat]

Was there an Otto Graham in basketball too? Because he was the greatest football quarterback ever but died 20 years ago or so

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

Serious question. Were you dropped on your head as an infant?

[YogurtProducer]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

You've got to be kidding me.

I swear these people have alerts set up for any mention of fatalities or any medical issue so they can rush to their phones or keyboards and rant about vaccines. And "turbo cancer", give me a break.

Came to say this. It’s crazy how many first replies are related to Covid or this bull whenever death is involved.

**** lunatics.

Goood video but… IBTL unfortunately

[Optms]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

I got the jab and every day I am thankful for being healthy while not suffering from its terrible side effects like some others clearly have, especially some in my family. That being said, I'm not sure it has anything to do with these players passing away.

EDIT: Do these many NBA players die every year and we just did not know about it? I've never seen a thread on here where so many NBA past players died within 12 months. Or maybe no one mentioned it until now?

[Chuck Everett]

Some former greats on this list. Thanks for sharing.

[GSWFan1994]

Bud Grant
Otto Graham

We sure these are all basketball players?

If I'm not mistaken, there are some players on the list that were only drafted by NBA teams, but didn't actually play in the league, instead having a pro career in mainly baseball and football, or... played like 1 season in the NBA, then did the same thing. I think this applies to both gentlemen you mentioned.

Bud Grant played 2 seasons and was a champion in 1950... link.

Otto Graham played 1 season (1945/1946)... link.

[GSWFan1994]

Hopefully the mods take care of the garbage derail above, anyway...

RIP to Indiana legend George Mcginnis, Indiana Mr. Basketball, played for IU and the Pacers winning two championships in the ABA. Dude was an absolute beast. Lebron lite in terms of body and athleticism.

There was a thread about McGinnis' passing a couple of weeks ago, I don't know if you saw it... here's the link.

[GSWFan1994]

EDIT: Do these many NBA players die every year and we just did not know about it? I've never seen a thread on here where so many NBA past players died within 12 months. Or maybe no one mentioned it until now?

I was both surprised and not surprised... surprised because many of the names in the list weren't noticed by the press and such, at the moment of their passing. And not surprised because there are literally thousands of players who have played in the history of the NBA, so just by logic you can imply that, by now, decades later, a few dozen will die due to old age... though we've had a few sad casualties in the list, a few guys who died very early, before reaching 50 years old... there was even a guy who died by suicide, unfortunately.

[dhsilv2]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

I got the jab and every day I am thankful for being healthy while not suffering from its terrible side effects like some others clearly have, especially some in my family. That being said, I'm not sure it has anything to do with these players passing away.

EDIT: Do these many NBA players die every year and we just did not know about it? I've never seen a thread on here where so many NBA past players died within 12 months. Or maybe no one mentioned it until now?

The league is 75 years old and the league expanded over those years. We'll see more players pass away each and every year on average going forward just because that's how human life works and how fast the league grew.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Serious question - how many got the jab and then died of heart attack and/or turbo cancer?

EDIT: Hope inquisition into the cause of death is allowed. Don't mean to stir trouble, just genuinely curious!

I got the jab and every day I am thankful for being healthy while not suffering from its terrible side effects like some others clearly have, especially some in my family. That being said, I'm not sure it has anything to do with these players passing away.

EDIT: Do these many NBA players die every year and we just did not know about it? I've never seen a thread on here where so many NBA past players died within 12 months. Or maybe no one mentioned it until now?

The league is 75 years old and the league expanded over those years. We'll see more players pass away each and every year on average going forward just because that's how human life works and how fast the league grew.

I think there has been 5k NBA players over 75 years. A straight average is 66 new players a year. Obviously most of those players were in 90s-Now when the league expanded and are still relatively young......all that said, 15-40 guys a year seems reasonable just based on volume of players.

[bisme37]

I'm trying to figure out a way to un-derail what was supposed to be a very nice thread and it's kinda beyond that point since most of the comments are responding to the post that derailed it. So it's getting locked.

But feel free to make a new thread so we can discuss the players we lost in 2023, OP.