Basketball Hall of Famer and Golden State Warriors great Nate Thurmond died on Saturday, the seven-time NBA All-Star was 74. Thurmond, who was named to the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players list in 1996, had reportedly been battling leukemia.
Thurmond was a burly, all-around center whose work in the middle last through two NBA generations. He entered the NBA in 1963 out of Bowling Green State and immediately made an impact as a power forward on a West-leading San Francisco Warriors team that featured Wilt Chamberlain at center. Thurmond made the NBA’s All-Rookie team as the Warriors made the Finals in 1963-64, and he was pressed into service in the pivot (making the first of his All-Star Game appearances along the way) the next season when Chamberlain was dealt back to Philadelphia.
Working in what was then a nine-team league, pre-expansion and before the launch of the American Basketball Association, Thurmond faced a pitched battle every night in a league that went inside three times before even considering tossing the ball back to the perimeter. Thurmond hardly had an evening off as he counted Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Willis Reed, Zelmo Beaty, and Walt Bellamy as rivals at his position. The 1970s would bring on further challenges in the form of Wes Unseld, Dave Cowens, Bob Lanier and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Centers ruled the roost, and Thurmond (who retired with career averages of 15 points, 15 rebounds and over two blocks per game; though blocks were kept as an official statistic until after his 32nd birthday) more than held his own. Abdul-Jabbar would credit Thurmond as the toughest defender he faced in his record-breaking career.
Amongst that crowded landscape, though, Thurmond found it hard to make a championship run. Even the addition of Rick Barry wasn’t enough to push the now-Golden State Warriors over the top, and when the 44-win GSW team of 1974 missed the playoffs entirely, Thurmond was sent packing to Chicago in exchange for 25-year old pivot prospect Clifford Ray, and a draft pick that would eventually be used on Joe Bryant (Kobe Bryant’s father).
Thought to be Chicago’s missing piece, the 33-year old led the Bulls to the team’s best chance at a ring in the pre-Michael Jordan era; averaging double-figure rebounds (Thurmond still holds the NBA record for rebounds in a quarter, with 18) while making life wonderful for his slashing and scoring teammates with his expert screen-setting and passing skills (Thurmond averaged 4.1 assists per game). Ironically, Thurmond’s old Warriors teammates put an end to Chicago’s run in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, before going on to win the 1975 NBA title.
Dealt again early in 1975-76, this time to Cleveland, Thurmond helped lead the heretofore woebegone Cavaliers to the famed ‘Miracle of Richfield,’ downing the defending Eastern champion Washington Bullets prior to losing to a Boston Celtics team that would go on to win that year’s title. Cavaliers coach Bill Fitch credited the presence of Thurmond, playing in his penultimate season, for providing the Cavs with the necessary mettle:
“We needed a maturity, a guy that had been down roads that we hadn’t been,” said Fitch, who had a master’s degree in psychology. “We got the whole thing with him. We needed what he gave us on the floor and we needed what he gave us off the floor.”
The Cavaliers would go on to retire Thurmond’s No, 42, even though he played a relatively scant 112 games with the club.
In the decades since his retirement Thurmond would go on to act as a successful restaurateur, prior to rejoining the Warriors as a team ambassador. He was a ubiquitous presence around the club during its 2014-15 title run. He remains the team’s all-time leading rebounder, and is tops amongst Warriors in minutes played.
Nate Thurmond is survived by his wife, Marci.
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