Former New York Knicks first-round pick Jerrod Mustaf died Monday at age 55, the Baltimore Sun reports.
No cause of death has been revealed.
Mustaf was a star at Maryland for three seasons, averaging 16.6 points per game from 1988-90.
The Whiteville, North Carolina native was drafted 17th overall by the Knicks in 1990, ahead of future NBA stars such as Jayson Williams, Toni Kukoc, Antonio Davis and Cedric Ceballos.
Mustaf was later accused of being involved in the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Althea Hayes, in 1993. He was not charged and strongly denied the allegations, even when Mustaf’s cousin, Lavonnie Wooten, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison. life. in prison in 1996.
Jerrod Mustaf was selected 17th overall by the Knicks in the 1990 draft out of Maryland.
Mustaf later played for the Phoenix Suns before embarking on a career in Europe.
The son of self-described “black militant” Shaar Mustaf, young Mustaf played baseball at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, where he became one of the county’s top recruits.
At his father’s urging, Mustaf enrolled at Maryland, where he was named to three Parade All-American tams.
Although he was a first-round pick, Mustaf had trouble breaking into the Knicks’ rotation given the depth at power forward with the presence of Charles Oakley. As a result, New York traded Mustaf to Phoenix in the deal that brought defensive ace Xavier McDaniel to the Knicks.
Mustaf would continue to play for Phoniex until the 1993-94 season, during which his alleged girlfriend, Hayes, was shot and killed in their apartment in Glendale, Arizona.
Several witnesses claimed at the time that Mustaf was unhappy to learn she was pregnant, according to an August 1993 Roanoke Times article.
Jerrod Mustaf of the Knicks boxes against the Pacers at Madison Square Garden in 1993
Hayes reportedly called a friend the night of the murder to tell her that Wooten, Mutaf’s cousin, was scaring her in her apartment.
Several witnesses, including an off-duty police officer, claimed to have seen Mustaf and Wooten outside the Hayes apartment complex on the night in question, according to a 2001 Washington Times article.
Her mother, Hazel, and Alvin, Hazel’s husband, told the Times they believed Mustaf “paid someone to murder my daughter.”
He continued to play professionally overseas after Hayes’ murder before returning to Maryland around 2000.
In 2001, he was accused of attacking his then-partner, Shalamar Muhammad Mustaf, and violating a protective order related to the case, according to the Times.
Mustaf would eventually become an activist and mentor to children in Baltimore. He once launched a Pull ‘Em Up campaign to encourage children to pull up their pants, according to a 2017 SI.com article.
In a separate incident from 1993, Mustaf and Wooten allegedly got into an altercation over a bill at a bookstore, which resulted in the 6-foot-10 basketball player allegedly assaulting his cousin. Mustaf was charged with aggravated assault and Wooten sued him, according to SI.com.