Hall of Famer Hawkins dies
Connie Hawkins, basketball’s dazzling New York playground legend who soared and swooped his way to the Hall of Fame, has died. He was 75.
His death was announced Saturday by the Phoenix Suns, the team with which he spent his most productive NBA seasons in a career delayed for years by a point-shaving scandal that led to the league’s blackballing him, even though he was never directly linked to any wrongdoing.
“We lost a legend,” said Jerry Colangelo, the Suns general manager when Hawkins played and later the team’s owner, “a player I had a very deep affection for who kind of put us on the map.”
Hawkins toured with the Harlem Globetrotters, then played two seasons in the ABA and was the league’s most valuable player in 1968. He didn’t play in the NBA until he was 27, in 1969.
The Suns, a year-old franchise at the time, selected Hawkins second overall after losing a coin f lip for the rights to Lew Alcindor (who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Hawkins was an All-Star for four straight seasons; his best was his first, when he averaged 24.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
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