Former NBA Star Dies Unexpectedly At 55

Jerrod Mustaf, the former New York Knicks player who entered the NBA in the first round draft in 1990 alongside Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing, died on his birthday at the age of 55.

The Daily Caller reported that Mustaf’s death, the circumstances of which were not revealed, was confirmed by the University of Maryland men’s basketball team on social media. “With great sadness, we learned of the passing of Jerrod Mustaf today. Forever a Terp, a teammate, and a friend,” the team account wrote. During his collegiate career, Mustaf played 59 games, averaging 16.6 points per game; that number peaked during his senior year when he averaged 18.5 per game, making him a prime pickup during the NBA’s 1990 draft. He was named a McDonald’s All-American as a high schooler, made the NCAA’s All-American team his sophomore year, and later achieved all-ACC honors for his performance in his senior year.

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With great sadness we learned of the passing of Jerrod Mustaf today. Forever a Terp, a teammate, and a friend. pic.twitter.com/MgIqac6yTc

— Maryland Men’s Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) October 28, 2024

Mustaf was selected by the Knicks just several spots behind icons Barkley and Ewing, bouncing between New York and the Phoenix Suns for his first four professional seasons when he failed to get traction at Barkley’s side. During his career, the North Carolina native also held roles with the Seattle SuperSonics and Charlotte Hornets. He played overseas in the second half of his career, retiring in 2001 after finishing with Altay Kartal Makarna in the Turkish Basketball League.

A shadow hung over Mustaf’s career beginning in the 1993 season when he was implicated in the murder of his girlfriend Althea Hayes, who was found shot to death in her Glendale, Arizona apartment. Police labeled Mustaf an “investigative lead,” the Caller reported, but it was ultimately his cousin Lavonnie Wooten who was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison. Hayes, 27, was pregnant with Mustaf’s child at the time of her death. Sports Illustrated previously reported that Mustaf offered Hayes, a religious woman, up to $5,000 to seek an abortion, which she declined. A civil suit brought by Hayes’s family was settled out of court with Mustaf in 1995.

Throughout the investigation Mustaf denied being in a romantic relationship with Hayes, but that didn’t stop the Phoenix Suns from placing him on the injured list while charges were pending, eventually releasing him in 1994. In 2017 Sports Illustrated wrote how Mustaf, since retirement, had become a “community hero,” appearing during that year’s NBA season at various games to accept civic awards which one press release called “his exemplary level of dedication and commitment to the community.” He become an advocate for reduced prison sentences and spoke hopefully about the “wisdom of sanctuary cities.”

In Mustaf’s mind, his year of community accolades amounted to an end to the “blackballing” he claimed to face in the league following Hayes’s death. K.C. Scull, the former Phoenix-area prosecutor charged with investigating Hayes’s death, told SI prosecutors missed an opportunity by not charging Mustaf. “It’s one of my biggest regrets that I wasn’t allowed to try this case,” he sighed, a veiled reference to the political pressure he faced at the time. Scull, now 80, said in 2017 he hoped Maryland prosecutors would seek to reopen the investigation, as first degree murder has no statute of limitations. “I think, even today, if the U.S. Attorney’s office would take this case on,” he told SI, “it could be won.”

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