(AP) – Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins before becoming a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the biggest stars in basketball broadcasting, died Monday, the league announced on behalf of his family.
Walton, who had a prolonged fight with cancer, was 71.
He was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, a two-time champion as a player and a member of both the NBA’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams. That all followed a college career in which he was a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year.
“Bill Walton,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said, “was truly one of a kind.”
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