Former New York Knicks first-round draft pick Jerrod Mustaf died on Monday at the age of 55, according to the Baltimore Sun. The cause of death has not been revealed by his family. Mustaf was a standout player at Maryland for three seasons, averaging 16.6 points a game from 1988 to 1990.
Tributes started pouring in from the moment news of his death broke. The Whiteville, North Carolina native was drafted 17th overall by the Knicks in 1990, ahead of future NBA stars like Jayson Williams, Toni Kukoc, Antonio Davis, and Cedric Ceballos. In 1993, Mustaf was accused of being involved in the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Althea Hayes.
Career Marred in Controversy
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Mustaf was not charged and consistently denied the allegations, even as his cousin, Lavonnie Wooten, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison in 1996. The son of self-declared “black militant” Shaar Mustaf, the younger Mustaf played high school basketball at DeMatha High in Hyattsville, where he emerged as one of the top recruits in the area.
Encouraged by his father, Mustaf attended the University of Maryland, where he earned spots on three Parade All-American teams.
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Despite being a first-round draft pick, Mustaf found it difficult to secure a place in the Knicks’ rotation due to the depth at power forward with Charles Oakley on the team.
Consequently, New York traded Mustaf to Phoenix in a deal that brought defensive specialist Xavier McDaniel to the Knicks.
Mustaf played in Phoenix until the 1993-94 season, during which his alleged girlfriend, Hayes, was shot and killed in her apartment in Glendale, Arizona.
According to an August 1993 article in the Roanoke Times, multiple witnesses said that Mustaf was unhappy to find out that Hayes was pregnant. Court documents later alleged that Mustaf had offered to pay $5,000 for her to have an abortion.
Murder Allegation
On the night of the murder, Hayes reportedly called a cousin to express that Wooten, Mustaf’s cousin, was frightening her at her apartment. “She said, ‘I have to get out of here right now because they’re gonna get me,'” Tearman Spencer, Hayes’ cousin, recalled to SI.com in 2019.
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According to a 2001 article in the Washington Times, several witnesses, including an off-duty police officer, reported seeing Mustaf and Wooten outside Hayes’ apartment complex on the night of the incident. Hazel, Hayes’ mother, and her husband Alvin told the Times that they suspected Mustaf “paid someone to kill my daughter.”
Earlier in 1993, Mustaf and Wooten reportedly had a fight over a bill at a bookstore, which led to the 6-foot-10 basketball player attacking his cousin. Mustaf was charged with aggravated assault, and Wooten filed a lawsuit against him, as noted by SI.com.
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He continued to play professionally overseas after Hayes’ murder before returning to Maryland around the year 2000.
In 2001, he was charged with assaulting his then-girlfriend, Shalamar Muhammad Mustaf, and for breaching a protective order related to that case, according to the Times.
Ultimately, Mustaf became an activist and mentor to children in Baltimore. He even started a Pull ‘Em Up campaign to encourage kids to wear their pants at a proper height, as reported in an SI.com article from 2017.
