# List of basketball players who died during their careers

This is a list of all notable basketball players who died while on a team roster, as a free agent, or while not rostered, but still seeking work, playing for a national team, or otherwise not retired. Many of them died in accidents such as car or plane crashes. Some suffered sudden cardiac death, which has a higher incidence in basketball among young athletes. Some suffered from the heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is more common in African Americans. Basketball has a considerably higher ratio of African-Americans than other sports. Other deaths were caused by drug abuse.
Included are NBA players, WNBA players, college players, and players in other notable leagues who died before their retirement from basketball. Players who died following the conclusion of their career should not be included. Players are listed with the team for which they last played before death, rather than the team with which the player spent most of their playing career.
Basketball teams may honor active players who died by bestowing upon them a posthumous honor of a retired number.

## Deaths of active players with individually notable careers

| Name | Age | Position | Team | League | Cause of Death | Year |
| Davide Ancilotto | 23 | Shooting guard | Virtus Roma | Lega Basket Serie A | brain ischemia | 1997 |
| Nilay Aydoğan | 30 | Forward | Çankaya Üniversitesi | Women's Basketball Super League | earthquake | 2023 |
| Ricky Berry | 24 | Small forward | Sacramento Kings | NBA | suicide by gunshot | 1989 |
| Len Bias | 22 | Small forward | Boston Celtics | NBA | heart attack (drug induced) | 1986 |
| Haris Brkić | 26 | Small forward | Partizan | YUBA | homicide by gunshot | 2000 |
| Gilbert Bulawan | 29 | Power forward / center | Blackwater Elite | PBA | heart enlargement (collapsed during practice) | 2016 |
| Terrence Clarke | 19 | Shooting guard | Kentucky Wildcats | NCAA | car crash | 2021 |
| Jason Collier | 28 | Center | Atlanta Hawks | NBA | heart enlargement | 2005 |
| Bryce Dejean-Jones | 23 | Shooting guard | New Orleans Pelicans | NBA | gunshot | 2016 |
| Patrick Dennehy | 21 | Center | Baylor Bears | NCAA | homicide by gunshot | 2003 |
| Kenny Ejim | 27 | Power forward | Al-Najma | Bahraini Premier League | unknown | 2022 |
| Wayne Estes | 21 | Forward | Utah State Aggies | NCAA | accidental electrocution | 1965 |
| Lavelle Felton | 29 | Shooting guard | Paderborn Baskets | ProA | homicide by gunshot | 2009 |
| Scott Fenton | 24 | Shooting guard | Perth Wildcats | NBL | car crash | 1989 |
| Ryan Francis | 19 | Point guard | USC Trojans | NCAA | homicide by gunshot | 2006 |
| Oscar Frayer | 23 | Forward | Grand Canyon Antelopes | NCAA | car crash | 2021 |
| Terry Furlow | 25 | Small forward / shooting guard | Utah Jazz | NBA | car crash | 1980 |
| Hank Gathers | 23 | Forward | Loyola Marymount Lions | NCAA | heart condition (collapsed during game) | 1990 |
| Eddie Griffin | 25 | Power forward / center | Minnesota Timberwolves | NBA | car crash | 2007 |
| Huck Hartman | 25 | Center | Youngstown Bears | NBL | pneumonia | 1946 |
| Lauren Hill | 19 | Forward | Mount St. Joseph Lions | NCAA | brain cancer | 2015 |
| Tyler Honeycutt | 27 | Small forward | BC Khimki | EuroLeague | suicide by gunshot | 2018 |
| Zoltán Horváth | 30 | Power forward / center | Falco Szombathely | Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A | car crash (on his way to practice) | 2009 |
| Troy Jackson | 38 | Power forward / center | AND1 | AND1 Mixtape Tour | hypertensive heart disease | 2011 |
| Stevan Jelovac | 32 | Power forward / center | AEK Athens | Greek Basket League | stroke (collapsed during practice) | 2021 |
| Chuck Karmarkovich | 24 | Forward / center | Johnstown Clippers | AABL | car crash | 1951 |
| Radivoj Korać | 30 | Power forward | Petrarca Padova | Serie A | car crash | 1969 |
| Connie Kunzmann | 24 | Forward | Nebraska Wranglers | WPBL | homicide by stabbing | 1981 |
| Wendell Ladner | 26 | Forward | New York Nets | ABA | plane crash | 1975 |
| Reggie Lewis | 27 | Small forward | Boston Celtics | NBA | cardiac arrest secondary to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (collapsed during practice) | 1993 |
| Fernando Martín Espina | 27 | Power forward / center | Real Madrid Baloncesto | Liga ACB | car crash | 1989 |
| Jovan Manović | 29 | Point guard | AS Prishtina | KBS | homicide by gunshot | 2007 |
| Conrad McRae | 29 | Power forward / center | Orlando Magic | NBA | heart enlargement (collapsed during practice) | 2000 |
| Fab Melo | 26 | Center | Brasília | NBB | heart attack (died in sleep) | 2017 |
| Michael Ojo | 27 | Center | Crvena zvezda | ABA | heart attack (collapsed during practice) | 2020 |
| Elijah Olaniyi | 26 | Shooting guard / Small forward | Sparta Bertrange | Luxembourg Basketball League | brain cancer | 2025 |
| Ruslan Otverchenko | 33 | Shooting guard | Budivelnyk | European North Basketball League | heart complications | 2023 |
| Adreian Payne | 31 | Center / power forward | Juventus Utena | LKL | homicide by gunshot | 2022 |
| Kim Perrot | 32 | Point guard | Houston Comets | WNBA | lung cancer | 1999 |
| Dražen Petrović | 28 | Shooting guard | New Jersey Nets | NBA | car crash | 1993 |
| Mark Petteway | 27 | Small forward / power forward | Apollon Patras | Greek Basket League | suicide by gunshot | 1989 |
| Bobby Phills | 30 | Shooting guard | Charlotte Hornets | NBA | car crash | 2000 |
| Shawntinice Polk | 22 | Center | University of Arizona | NCAA | pulmonary embolism | 2005 |
| Slobodan Popović | 24 | Forward | Crvena zvezda | Yugoslav League | groin injury complication | 1968 |
| John Postley | 30 | Forward / center | Wilkes-Barre Barons | EPBL | heart attack | 1970 |
| Katrina Price | 23 | Shooting guard | Philadelphia Rage | ABL | suicide by gunshot | 1999 |
| Trajko Rajković | 32 | Center | OKK Beograd | KLS | heart defect (died in his sleep 4 days after winning the FIBA World Championship) | 1970 |
| Bill Robinzine | 29 | Power forward | Utah Jazz | NBA | suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning | 1982 |
| Danny Rumph | 19 | Point guard | Western Kentucky | NCAA | Cardiac arrest due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy | 2005 |
| Malik Sealy | 30 | Small forward / shooting guard | Minnesota Timberwolves | NBA | car crash | 2000 |
| Abraham Sie | 22 | Point guard | DUC | Nationale 1 | unknown | 2022 |
| Marvin Stone | 26 | Center | Al-Ittihad | SPL | heart attack (collapsed during halftime) | 2008 |
| Chris Street | 20 | Power forward | Iowa Hawkeyes | NCAA | car crash | 1993 |
| Tauras Stumbrys | 34 | Point guard | Atletas Kaunas | LKL | heart attack (collapsed during game) | 2004 |
| Örlygur Aron Sturluson | 18 | Point guard | Njarðvík | Úrvalsdeild karla | accidental fall | 2000 |
| Caleb Swanigan | 25 | Power forward / center | Portland Trail Blazers (formerly) | NBA | natural causes | 2022 |
| Jānis Timma | 32 | Small forward / Shooting guard | Monbus Obradoiro | Liga ACB | suicide | 2024 |
| Robert Traylor | 34 | Power forward / center | Vaqueros de Bayamón | BSN | heart attack | 2011 |
| Zeke Upshaw | 26 | Small forward | Grand Rapids Drive | G League | cardiac arrest (collapsed during game) | 2018 |
| Nick Vanos | 24 | Center | Phoenix Suns | NBA | plane crash | 1987 |
| Alexandros Varitimiadis | 28 | Power forward | Raiffeisen Dornbirn Lions | Basketball Zweite Liga | cancer | 2023 |
| Ludovic Vaty | 34 | Power forward / center | TOAC Basket [fr] | Nationale masculine 2 | heart attack | 2023 |
| Luciano Vendemini | 24 | Center | ChinaMartini Torino | Lega Basket Serie A | heart failure (undiagnosed Marfan's syndrome) | 1977 |
| Heino Veskila | 22 | Forward | Tartu Dünamo | | executed by German occupation forces during World War II | 1941 |
| Ben Wilson | 17 | Guard / forward | Simeon Career Academy | Class AA | homicide | 1984 |
| Michael Wright | 35 | Power forward | Cholet | LNB Pro A | homicide | 2015 |
| Olga Yakovleva | 24 | Center | Vologda-Chevakata | Russian Superleague 1 | drowning | 2010 |

## Evansville Purple Aces plane crash

Fourteen members of the 1977–78 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team died in a plane crash on December 13, 1977, along with fifteen others including head coach Bobby Watson. The players killed were:
* Seniors: Kevin Kingston, John Ed Washington, and Marion Anthony “Tony” Windburn
* Juniors: Stephen Miller and Bryan Taylor
* Sophomores: Keith Moon
* Freshmen: Warren Alston, Ray Comandella, Mike Duff, Kraig Heckendorn, Michael Joyner, Barney Lewis, Greg Smith, and Mark Siegel
Freshman David Furr, the lone member of the team who did not board Air Indiana Flight 216, died two weeks later in a car crash, meaning all the members of the team died during the 1977–78 season.