Former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Rodney Rogers Dies at 54
Rodney Rogers, the former NBA player and 2000 Sixth Man of the Year, has died, the Brooklyn Nets announced Thursday. he was 54 years old.No cause of death was immediately given.
Rogers was a standout player at Wake Forest University, where he earned ACC Player of the Year honors and First Team All-American recognition in 1993. That same year, he was selected ninth overall in the NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.
During his professional career, Rogers played for seven franchises: the Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, Charlotte Hornets, and Philadelphia 76ers. He achieved his greatest NBA success with the Suns in the 1999-2000 season, averaging 13.8 points on 48.6 percent shooting across all 82 games and earning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.
Rogers later played two seasons with the Nets (2002-2004), reaching the NBA Finals with the team in 2003.
“We’re saddened to hear of the passing of Rodney Rogers, a former Net and member of our 2003 Eastern conference Championship team,” the Nets saeid in a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) on November 22, 2023. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today.”
After retiring from professional basketball, Rogers faced a life-altering challenge. In 2008,he was paralyzed from the shoulders down following an ATV accident. Despite this, he established the Rodney Rogers Foundation to support individuals living with spinal cord injuries.
“It’s easy to focus on his extraordinary talent, but what stood out to everyone who knew him was that he was every bit as remarkable as a human being,” said former Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom in a statement. “He loved his teammates, he loved his family, he loved Wake Forest and he loved the game of basketball. He loved playing for Wake Forest. Every time we visited him,I walked away reminding myself never to complain – because he never did. He faced life exactly as it came and made the vrey best of every moment. He was a joy to watch as a basketball player, but he was an even greater man. He shared his strength, his spirit and his life with everyone around him.”
