Two-time NBA champion Bill Walton dead at 71

Two-time NBA champion Bill Walton, who dominated the hard court during a 13-year pro basketball career and later excelled as a broadcaster who both delighted and dismayed sports fans with his sometimes zany color commentary, died after a "prolonged battle with cancer," the league announced Monday.

Two-time NBA champion Bill Walton, who dominated the hard court during a 13-year pro basketball career and later excelled as a broadcaster who both delighted and dismayed sports fans with his sometimes zany color commentary, died after a "prolonged battle with cancer," the league announced Monday.

Walton, who was 71, was with his family when he died, NBA spokesperson Mark Broussard said in a statement.

Bill Walton at a game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns in Los Angeles on April 20, 2023. Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images file "Bill Walton was truly one of a kind," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position."

Walton led the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA championship in 1977 and won a second NBA title as a member of the Boston Celtics in 1986.

And after a 13-year career on the hardwood, Walton "translated his infectious enthusiasm and love for the game to broadcasting, where he delivered insightful and colorful commentary which entertained generations of basketball fans," Silver said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/bill-walton-nba-hall-of-famer-basketball-dies-71-rcna154191

---