RIP (Dead basketball players thread)

[carlo]

Willie Naulls, early years' NBA star with the NY Knicks and Boston Celtics died at age of 84.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/obituaries/willie-naulls-dies.html

Naulls played collegiately at UCLA where he was an All-American in 1956 and was invited to the Olympic trials where he starred in the same squad with Bill Russell and KC Jones. He finished second in scoring and rebounding for his team (preceeded by Russell) but was just selected as an alternate and finally didn't make the Olympic team.

[carlo]

Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek died at the age of 79.

https://www.nba.com/celtics/news/pressrelease/statement-john-havliceks-passing

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26606520/boston-celtics-legend-john-havlicek-dies-79

Havlicek played as many as 16 seasons with the Celtics winning eight NBA championships. Collegiately he won the NCAA title with Ohio State in 1960.

[carlo]

Jerry Sloan 1942-2020

Famed player and coach Jerry Sloan dead at age 78.

Prior to his lengthy coaching career, Sloan was a star player at Evansville where he won two NCAA Div II titles in 1964 and 1965, and was the 6th overall pick of the Baltimore Bullets. Early in 1966 Sloan was chosen in the expansion draft by new entry Chicago Bulls, where he played for ten years becoming the mainstay of the team's defense. After his playing days he head-coached the Bulls for three years and then the Utah Jazz from 1988 through 2011.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29209339/long-jazz-coach-jerry-sloan-dies-age-78

[carlo]

Wes Unseld 1946-2020

Former NBA legend and HoF center Unseld had a career that spanned from 1968 through 1981 with the Bullets. Though short for his role, he was a strong and gifted player who excelled from high school through the pros. In 1969 he became the only second NBA player, after Wilt Chamberlain, to win both MVP and Rookie of the Year award. In 1967 Unseld also starred with the US team winning the gold at the Pan American games and the World University games.

https://theundefeated.com/features/the-unforgettable-wes-unseld/

[Svoura]

No mention of the great Roy Tarpley (1964-2015) in this thread?
Let me add Kevin Magee, the Maccabi legend (1959-2003).
Candido "Chicho" Sibilio (1958-2019) was a legend in Spain and his home country, the Dominican Republic.
Also the German giant Sascha Hupmann (1970-2020), who died recently.
Kresimir Cosic (1948-1995) was just 47 when he passed.

[carlo]

No mention of the great Roy Tarpley (1964-2015) in this thread?
Let me add Kevin Magee, the Maccabi legend (1959-2003).
Candido "Chicho" Sibilio (1958-2019) was a legend in Spain and his home country, the Dominican Republic.
Also the German giant Sascha Hupmann (1970-2020), who died recently.
Kresimir Cosic (1948-1995) was just 47 when he passed.

Thanks for your additions. As I can see, this thread is far from being an exhaustive list of dead players since it has no statistic purposes. It's open to anybody willing to keep the memory of known deceased basketball players who distinguished themselves at different times and for various reasons, so any contribution in this regard is welcome.