NBA Players Who Died Before Turning 40

After graduating from San Jose State University, where he was coached by his father, Ricky Berry was drafted a respectable 18^th by the Sacramento Kings, per Basketball Reference. During the 1988-89 season, he averaged 11 points a game, but his true potential would never be known. After playing just 64 games in the NBA, only weeks before his 25^th birthday, Berry died by suicide on August 14, 1989.

Even in such a short period with the team, Berry had made an impression. When announcing the tragic event to the media, the Kings' coach was so upset that he was unable to choke out his prepared statement, The New York Times reported. Future Portland Trail Blazer Monty Buckley, then a high school student who'd been mentored by Berry, was pulled aside at the basketball camp he was attending and told the news. He couldn't believe it. "He was a two-way player, as we say today, who could play all five positions," Buckley later said (via Andscape). "He had a chance to be one of the best in the game."

While at the time it was reported that no one had seen his death coming, later it would emerge Berry was having many problems in his personal life, including with his parents and his new wife, as well as financial stress.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

Jason Collier was the 15^th pick of the 2000 NBA Draft, according to Basketball Reference, and while he was originally selected by the Milwaukee Bucks, they traded him that same day to the Houston Rockets. In 2004, he'd go on to play for the Atlanta Hawks, but his career with them would be cut short when he died suddenly on October 15, 2005, barely a month after his 28^th birthday.

After an autopsy, it was revealed Collier had an underlying heart condition no one was aware of. While those who knew and loved him might have remembered him as having a metaphorical big heart, what killed him was a literal big heart. Too big. ESPN quoted Georgia's chief medical examiner as saying that the sheer size of Collier's heart "was above the accepted limits, even for a man of his size." The college newspaper Technique explained that while an average-sized man's heart weighs in at around 400-450 grams, a large basketball player could be expected to have one weighing as much as 580 grams. Collier's heart? A whopping 640 grams.

While you might think having an enlarged heart would be easy to diagnose, especially considering all the medical tests and health checks basketball players have to go through to be cleared to play, the medical examiner said it's actually quite difficult to assess. The only sign something was off was some slightly abnormal EKG results Collier had gotten twice before, but nothing that indicated anything major was wrong.

Even though he only played in the NBA for a few years after dominating the basketball program at The University of Michigan, Terry Furlow had an outsized influence on many iconic players. In his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, and Utah Jazz, per MLive, he was not only a teammate and good friend of Julius "Dr. J" Erving, but a key mentor for the up-and-coming high schooler Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Johnson would later call Furlow "one of the greatest shooters I've ever seen in my entire life."

But Furlow's career came to an abrupt end on May 23, 1980, when he was 25. According to Deseret News, Furlow had been out partying, and was driving home early the next morning when he hit a utility pole and died.

When the toxicology report came back and revealed Furlow had cocaine and Valium in his system, the NBA was forced to grapple with the fact there was a serious drug problem in its ranks. "Before Terry Furlow died, I think there was a desire to see a player really get nailed on a drug charge, that might open some eyes. But since his death, I think most players feel, 'It won't happen to me. It's too bad about Terry, but it won't happen to me,'" Phoenix's general manager Jerry Colangelo told The Washington Post at the time.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Reggie Lewis managed to stand out even on a high school basketball team that included three other future NBA players, according to Slam. He went on to dominate at Northeastern, before being drafted 22^nd in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, per Basketball Reference.

Then, on July 27, 1993, during a routine practice session, Lewis collapsed on the court, Sports Illustrated reported. Despite attempts at resuscitation, he died, aged just 27. As with other young players whose hearts suddenly stopped for seemingly no reason (including Len Bias, who, had they both lived, might have been a teammate of Lewis and totally changed the arch of '90s basketball, according to Bleacher Report), cocaine use was suspected.

However, years later, a more complicated picture emerged in a court case brought by Lewis' widow. While experts agreed that scarring of the heart muscles and a cardiac arrhythmia ultimately killed Lewis, they disagreed about what had caused those issues. The medical examiner who did the player's autopsy didn't believe there was any evidence of cocaine use, and that the scarring had been caused by a virus. Previously, Lewis had been told by a team of no less than a dozen doctors that he had a dangerous heart arrhythmia. However, Lewis' cardiologist said the player told him about his cocaine use only weeks before he died, and at least five consultants believed the scarring could be due to using cocaine.

Dražen Petrović was born in Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia) and started his basketball career in Europe before finally being drafted in the 3^rd round of the NBA Draft in 1986. He would play for the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Jersey Nets for the next four seasons, per Basketball Reference, and emerge as one of the NBA's best shooting guards. He also made appearances at three Olympics, leading Yugoslavia and then Croatia to a haul of one bronze and two silver medals.

In Germany, on June 7, 1993, the 28-year-old Petrović was a passenger in a car driven by his girlfriend. The New York Times reported it had been raining, and the woman lost control of the car, crashing into a tractor-trailer. The girlfriend and another woman in the car were injured, per The Los Angeles Times; Petrović was killed on impact.

Petrović was mourned on both sides of the Atlantic. "He left no stones unturned trying to make himself the best player he could be," Nets' general manager Willis Reed told the media while sobbing. "We don't have enough players in this game that care that much about it." But nowhere was Petrović's loss felt more than in Croatia, where he was arguably their most successful athlete ever. There, they renamed a basketball arena and a city square for him, according to the Olympics website, as well as opened a museum dedicated to Petrović. And in Switzerland, a statue of the player (pictured) was erected near the Olympics Museum.

Despite not even taking up basketball until he was 17, Bill Robinzine was a 1^st round draft pick in 1975, being selected by the Kansas City Kings. However, starting in 1980, he would go on to be traded in quick succession from the Kings to the Cleveland Cavaliers, then to the Dallas Mavericks, and finally to the Utah Jazz, according to Basketball Reference. However, at the end of the 1982 season, he found himself without an NBA team for the first time in years. The New York Times reported that Robinzine was looking into joining a European team.

So when the player died by suicide on September 16, 1982, aged 29, his friends and family were shocked. Another article in the Times reported that while Robinzine was having some financial issues, they were nothing that couldn't be dealt with relatively easily, and while he was sad not to be playing in the NBA at that point, he had discussed the possibility of playing in Italy with many of his friends in the weeks before he died. He was happily married and seemed to have a bright future, even if the NBA was behind him.

A college teammate said, "It seemed like he had a million different options," while Robinzine's college coach told a reporter, "He was all smiles. He never had any problems. He never told us any."

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

According to the NBA, after an impressive four years at Santa Clara, Nick Vanos was a 2^nd round draft pick in 1985. Phoenix Suns teammate Alvan Adams remembered how happy Vanos was to be there. "In his first year, he was like, 'Wow, I'm in the NBA,'" Adams remembered. The team saw great potential in Vanos and saw him as a possible key to success in the future. Sadly, his time with them would only last two seasons.

On August 16, 1987, Vanos was on Northwest Airlines Flight 255 with his girlfriend, when it crashed during takeoff. The disaster killed over 150 of the plane's passengers, including Vanos. He was 24.

There is a virtual memorial to the victims of the crash, as well as a physical memorial that the families spent seven years fighting to erect. One mother who lost her pregnant daughter in the disaster said, "It's been a very hard 7 years. This will bring a new meaning to the crash. We only wish it would have been sooner."

His parents would go on to sue the airline, UPI reported, for $13.8 million, alleging the pilot took off "contrary to and in violation of safe operating procedures." They based the figure on all the money they said Vanos would have earned as a player and for endorsement deals.