Former NBA player Jerrod Mustaf reportedly died on Monday.
According to Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, Mustaf’s family confirmed that the forward passed away on his 55th birthday.
The New York Knicks selected Mustaf with the No. 17 pick of the 1990 NBA Draft. As a rookie, he played 62 games in New York before spending the final three seasons of his career with the Phoenix Suns. He later played overseas in Greece, Turkey, and Spain.
Mustaf, a Maryland alum, averaged 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 179 NBA games. He played scarce minutes off the bench for a Suns team that lost to the Chicago Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals.
Police considered Mustaf “an investigative lead” in the murder of Althea Hayes that summer. His cousin, Lavonnie Woten, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Mustaf felt the NBA blackballed him for his “totally unfair” connection to the case. However, the prosecutor assigned to the case told Jon Wertheim in a 2019 Sports Illustrated profile that not getting a chance to take Mustaf to trial was “one of my biggest regrets.”
Hayes was pregnant and believed Mustaf was the father. Mustaf, who later settled a wrongful death lawsuit with her family, was allegedly angry when she refused to get an abortion.
Per Wertheim, Mustaf allegedly assaulted and threatened another woman he impregnated in college. He was also accused of firing a gun at the wall near his pregnant fiancée during his time in Phoenix.
Later in life, Mustaf ran the “Take Charge” non-profit organization to help keep at-risk youth out of the criminal justice system.