The NBA just celebrated its 75th Anniversary last season, showing that the league is much younger than most of the major sports leagues worldwide. As a result, most of the legends of the game are still around and are allowing younger players to get first-hand advice from them.
Bill Russell was the most legendary player from the ’60s and dominated the league by winning 11 championships in 13 years. He also won 5 NBA MVP awards in his era, proving that his defensive prowess is something that could catapult him to be an MVP despite never averaging more than 19 points a season.
Russell passed away yesterday and became only the 5th NBA MVP in history to pass away. The first one to do so was Wilt Chamberlain in 1999, followed by Moses Malone in 2015, Kobe Bryant and Wes Unseld in 2020, and now Russell in 2022. These are legends of the game, and it is heartbreaking to know that they aren’t amongst us anymore. This observation was made by Reddit user u/WeaponFactory.
Chamberlain won 4 NBA MVP awards in his career, the first coming in 1960 when he also won Rookie of the Year. Chamberlain would then win 3 consecutive MVPs from 1966 to 1968, engrossed in an iconic rivalry with Russell. He averaged over 20 rebounds in all of these seasons, with 2 seasons where he also scored more than 30 points. He won all his MVPs as a part of the San Franciso/Philadelphia Warriors (now Golden State Warriors). Wilt died of congestive heart failure in October 1999.
Like Chamberlain, Wes Unseld also won MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season in 1969, ending Wilt’s streak of 3 consecutive NBA MVP awards that season. The Baltimore Bullets’ star (now Washington Wizards) averaged 13.8 points and 18.2 rebounds that season. Unseld died in June 2020, and his cause of death wasn’t revealed, though the legendary player had multiple health issues at the time of his passing.
Moses Malone won 3 MVP awards in his career, the first one coming in 1979 when he played for the Houston Rockets. He averaged 25.8 points and 14.5 rebounds that season. He would win consecutive MVPs in 1982 with the Rockets and in 1983 with the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1982, Moses averaged over 31 points while also pulling down 14.7 rebounds. In 1983, his first year for the 76ers, Moses averaged 24.5 points and 15.3 rebounds. Malone died in his sleep in September 2015 from heart disease.
Kobe Bryant won just 1 MVP award in his career, and that season came in 2008 with the LA Lakers. He averaged 28.3 points, 1.8 steals, 5.4 assists, and 6.3 rebounds that season. Bryant should have won more MVP awards in his career but lost out a few to Steve Nash after Nash’s historic impact on the Phoenix Suns in those years. At least Kobe got to eliminate them for the Playoffs those years. Bryant heartbreakingly passed away in January 2020 in a helicopter crash.
Only 5 former MVPs passing away so far is quite incredible considering there are still many aged players that are still around and are inspiring the next generation of basketball. The oldest former MVP to still be around is Bob Cousy at the age of 93. There are other players who are 80 years old or older that are still with us in Bob Pettit (89), Oscar Robertson (83), and Willis Reed (80),
The NBA is not as old a league as many would assume, considering how fortunate fans have been to see most of the legends of the sport still be around the game. Russell was probably one of the most beloved legends of the game because of his contact public appearances, including handing out the Finals MVP trophy.
Hopefully, this sad list doesn’t see any more names added to it in the near future.
