Former Knicks first-round pick Jerrod Mustaf dead at 55 following storied NCAA career and murder accusations
Former New York Knicks first-round pick Jerrod Mustaf died Monday at the age of 55, the Baltimore Sun reported.
No cause of death has been revealed.
Mustaf was a star at Maryland for three seasons, averaging 16.6 points per game from 1988 to 1990.
The Whiteville, North Carolina native was drafted 17th overall by the Knicks in 1990, ahead of future NBA stars such as Jayson Williams, Toni Kukoc, Antonio Davis and Cedric Ceballos.
Mustaf was later accused of being involved in the 1993 murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Althea Hayes. He was not charged and steadfastly denied the charges, even though Mustaf’s cousin, Lavonnie Wooten, was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to lifelong. in prison in 1996.
Jerrod Mustaf was selected 17th overall by the Knicks in the 1990 draft out of Maryland
Mustaf later played for the Phoenix Suns before embarking on a career in Europe
The younger Mustaf, the son of self-described “black militant” Shaar Mustaf, played high school ball at DeMatha High in Hyattsville, where he developed into one of the top recruits in the county.
At his father’s urging, Mustaf enrolled at Maryland, where he was named to three Parade All-American drafts.
Despite being picked in the first round, Mustaf struggled to crack the Knicks’ rotation given the depth at power forward with the presence of Charles Oakley. As a result, New York traded Mustaf to Phoenix in the deal that brought defensive ace Xavier McDaniel to the Knicks.
Mustaf would continue to play in Phoniex until the 1993-1994 season, during which his alleged girlfriend, Hayes, was shot and killed in her apartment in Glendale, Arizona.
Multiple witnesses claimed at the time that Mustaf was unhappy when she learned she was pregnant, according to an August 1993 Roanoke Times piece. Court records later claimed Mustaf offered to pay $5,000 for Hayes to have an abortion.
Hayes reportedly called a cousin the night of the murder to say Wooten, Mutaf’s cousin, was scaring her in her apartment.
“She said, ‘I have to get out of here now because they’re going to get me.’ ”Tearman Spencer, Hayes’ cousin, recalled to SI.com in 2019.
Jerrod Mustaf of the Knicks boxing against the Pacers at Madison Square Garden in 1993
Several witnesses, including an off-duty police officer, claimed to have seen Mustaf and Wooten outside Hayes’ apartment complex on the night in question, according to a 2001 Washington Times piece.
Her mother, Hazel, and Hazel’s husband, Alvin, told the Times they believed Mustaf “paid someone to kill my daughter.”
In a previous incident from earlier in 1993, Mustaf and Wooten allegedly got into an argument over a bill at a bookstore, resulting in the 6-foot-2 basketball player attacking his cousin. Mustaf was charged with aggravated assault and Wooten sued him, according to SI.com.
He continued to play professionally overseas after Hayes’ murder before returning to Maryland around 2000.
In 2001, he was accused of assaulting his then-partner, Shalamar Muhammad Mustaf, and violating a protective order related to the case, the Times reported.
Mustaf would eventually become an activist and mentor for children in Baltimore. According to a 2017 SI.com piece, he once launched a Pull ‘Em Up campaign to encourage kids to pull up their pants.