Former NBA star Drew Gordon has died in a car crash at the age of 33, his agent confirmed. Gordon, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2014, is the brother of Denver Nuggets star Aaron Gordon. In a statement released late Thursday night, his agent Calvin Andrews confirmed that Gordon died in a car accident in Portland, Oregon.
He is survived by his wife, Angela, and their three children. Although Gordon had not played in the NBA for 10 years, he continued his basketball career, playing in the G-League, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, France, Lithuania, Turkey, and Italy. Tributes started pouring in since the time his death was announced.
Tragic End
Before his professional career, Gordon played for UCLA and New Mexico and was a McDonald's All-American. He went undrafted in 2012 and initially headed to Serbia, but returned in 2014 to play nine games for the 76ers.
Tributes quickly poured in on social media after the news of his death. Former Orlando Magic star Michael Carter-Williams wrote: "Rest in paradise Drew Gordon. A great husband, father, and teammate. @Double0AG [Aaron Gordon] I'm praying for you and your family. I love you and I'm sorry for your loss."
As of Friday morning, Nuggets star Aaron Gordon had not yet commented on the death of his older brother.
In 2022, Drew made headlines when he recounted fleeing Ukraine with his family when the war began.
He was playing in Kyiv on a one-year basketball contract and initially planned to stay until the end of the deal. However, he decided to leave after receiving a message from the US Embassy advising him to leave the city.
"My advice to him was get your family out of a war that you don't need to fight," Aaron Gordon told Andscape at the time.
Career Never Ended
Drew then returned to Denver to be near his brother and spoke about his love for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. "Ukraine is a proud country," he said. "The people are proud to be Ukrainian. There's a lot of history that goes along with being Ukrainian and they fight hard for what they believe. They also make sure that whoever visits Ukraine sees its beauty for what it is.
"There's a lot of monuments that are decades old from past run-ins and past conflicts that they were able to prevail with. And they're good people, man.
"I really respect all of the people of Ukraine, not just because it's a country I played in and they're nice to basketball players. I've seen how they interact with each other. I've seen how just the day-to-day life is.
"And they're just super-solid, solid people. And I hope that this war and the conflict right now is resolved soon, and they are able to keep the same energy that they've had about them, because it's honestly something that people can take note of and learn from, because they're good people, and I wish them well."
