According to FOX News on Tuesday, former National Basketball Association small forward Robert Reid of Atlanta, Georgia passed away at the age of 68 of cancer on Monday. Reid played 13 NBA seasons from 1977 to 1991. He was with the Houston Rockets from 1977 to 1988, the Charlotte Hornets from 1988 to 1989 and again from 1989 to 1990, the Portland Trail Blazers in 1989, and the Philadelphia 76ers in 1991.
Reid averaged 11.4 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, 2.7 assists per game, and 1.1 steals per game in 919 games. He had a field goal percentage of .458, and a free throw percentage of .732.
In 1982-83, Reid surprisingly left the NBA for religious reasons. At the time, he moved to Miami and worked on his Pentecostal faith. According to the New York Times, Reid also did not play for the Rockets during the 1981-82 NBA season “while attempting to resolve the conflicts between his basketball career and his religious beliefs.”
Reid was one of two notable NBA players who made religious headlines. He followed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who changed his name from Lew Alcindor in 1971 to recognize his Muslim beliefs. However, it should be noted that Abdul-Jabbar did not miss any NBA seasons.
A product of St. Mary’s University, Reid was the second round pick, 40th overall, in the 1977 NBA Draft. He was the Rockets’s second pick of the 1977 draft, following small forward Larry Moffett of Mobile, Alabama who was selected 34th overall.
Following his NBA career as a player, Reid was active in India, doing basketball clinics there, and coached professional basketball in Hungary. He also coached in the Continental Basketball Association for the Yakima SunKings, the United States Basketball League with the Texas Rim Rockers and the Lakeland Blue Ducks.
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