Former Cavaliers Forward Dies in Car Accident

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News reports out of Louisiana report that five-year NBA veteran and former Cleveland Cavaliers forward Gerald Paddio died Saturday in a single-vehicle crash in Louisiana, authorities said. He was 60 years of age.

According to the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred west of the city of Rayne. Investigators said Paddio was driving when his vehicle left the roadway for reasons that remain under investigation, and struck a culvert. He was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene from his injuries.

Paddio, a native of Lafayette, was identified as the driver. Officials described the crash as a single-vehicle accident, and stated that no further details were immediately available.

From UNLV To The Third Round

A 6’8 forward, Paddio played parts of three seasons in the NBA, after being selected in the third round (#74 overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. He had played collegiately at UNLV, where he was part of the storied Runnin’ Rebels team that went undefeated in conference play on its way to the 1987 NCAA Final Four, and later appeared in games for the Seattle SuperSonics, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and the then-Washington Bullets.

After being drafted by Boston, he was waived out of training camp before the start of the 1988-89 season, and spent the next two seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (the premier US minor league at the time) and in France, before signing back in the NBA with Cleveland in September 1990. He became a rotation player for the Cavaliers that season, starting 22 games and averaging 7.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game.

The 1990-91 season with the Cavaliers represented the bulk of Paddio’s NBA career, which in total spanned 129 games, during which he scored 715 points and averaged 5.5 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. Following his departure from Cleveland that summer, Paddio signed briefly with the Portland Trail Blazers for 1991 training camp but was waived prior to the regular season. He spent the 1991-92 season split between the CBA and Spain, before returning to the NBA with Seattle in 1992 on a multi-year deal.

Paddio’s Post-Cavaliers Career

Paddio’s tenure with Seattle included 41 regular season games and a short playoff appearance, where he averaged 1.6 points in nine postseason contests. In November 1993, at the start of the season year of his deal, he was traded to Indiana along with Derrick McKey in exchange for Detlef Schrempf, beginning a string of short-term moves that would prove to be the final phase of his NBA career.

During the 1993-94 season, Paddio appeared in games for Indiana, New York and Washington, with multiple signings, waivings and 10-day contracts over a period of weeks. He played 18 total games that season, averaging 2.9 points. By February 1994, his time in the NBA had ended.

Beyond the NBA, Paddio continued to play professionally for another decade. He would sign in each of Israel, Japan, Mexico, Lebanon and Argentina, in addition to further stints in both the CBA and Spain. His career extended into the early 2000s, as is the wont of the journeyman common among players on the fringes of the NBA, before retiring in 2004 at the age of 39. Thereafter, he went to work as a motivational speaker

Across his professional career, Paddio was regarded as a versatile wing capable of scoring in transition and contributing defensively in limited roles. He did not ever establish himself long-term with a single franchise, but his 1990-91 season with the 33-49 Cavaliers saw him receive more than 1,000 minutes of game time, which is more than most can say.

Mark Deeks I am continuously intrigued by the esoterica and minutiae of all the aspects of building a basketball team. I want to understand how to build the best basketball teams possible. No, I don’t know why, either. More about Mark Deeks