Rodney Rogers, a Wake Forest Hall of Famer and prominent NBA role player who played 12 seasons in the league and won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2000, died Friday. He was 54.

Rogers died from “natural causes related to the spinal cord injury he suffered on Nov. 28, 2008,” according to a Wake Forest news release.

The NBA family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rodney Rogers.  Rodney earned the Sixth Man of the Year Award while playing for the Phoenix Suns and was a beloved teammate during his 12-year NBA career.  He will be remembered not only for his achievements on the court but… pic.twitter.com/BeA3Omdq4L

— NBA (@NBA) November 22, 2025

“Rodney Rogers played 12 years in the NBA, and I was fortunate to play alongside him for one of those during my rookie year with the 76ers,” National Basketball Players Association executive director Andre Iguodala said Saturday in a statement. “He was a consistent force on the court, highlighted by his Sixth Man of the Year Award and his incredible longevity in the league.

“Rodney maintained his warm and welcoming presence throughout his time in the league and even after his tragic accident in 2008 that left him paralyzed. I am honored that I had the privilege to personally experience his joy.”

Known for his imposing physique and nicknamed the “Durham Bull” during his North Carolina high-school career, Rogers was drafted ninth overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1993 NBA Draft. He played for Denver, the LA Clippers, the Phoenix Suns, the Boston Celtics, the New Jersey Nets, the New Orleans Hornets and the Philadelphia 76ers, retiring after the 2004-5 season. Rogers, who came off the bench throughout most of his career, averaged 13.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during his Sixth Man of the Year season with the Suns.

Rogers is remembered for some iconic moments in the league. He was part of one of the most memorable scoring outbursts of the era, hitting three 3-pointers in nine seconds for Denver during the 1999-2000 season — a sequence that’s still replayed on NBA broadcasts.

Rogers averaged 10.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game on 45.1 percent shooting in 866 career games. He averaged a career-high 15.1 points per game in 1997-98, his third season with the Clippers. LA went 17-65 that season.

Before the NBA, Rogers spent three years at Wake Forest, where he helped lift the Demon Deacons to national prominence in the early 1990s, setting the stage for a run of success in Winston-Salem that continued with Tim Duncan, who arrived a year after Rogers left to turn pro. Rogers won ACC freshman of the year over Duke’s Grant Hill in 1991, and he was named ACC player of the year and a second-team All-American in 1993, when he averaged 21.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He won first-team All-ACC honors twice before declaring for the draft in 1993.

Hailing from Durham, N.C., Rogers was a dominant presence for Hillside High School. In 1990, his senior year, Rogers won North Carolina’s Mr. Basketball award as the best prep player in the state. He was also named a McDonald’s All-American that year.

In February 1996, Wake Forest retired Rogers’ No. 54 jersey in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

After retiring from the NBA, Rogers worked as a heavy-equipment operator in Durham’s public works department. Three years following his retirement, Rogers was involved in an ATV accident just north of Raleigh after driving into a ditch and flipping over his vehicle. Rogers was paralyzed from the shoulders down after suffering severe spinal cord and brain injuries.

Rogers remained a beloved figure in his community after the accident, founding the Rodney Rogers Foundation to support resilience and personal growth. Wake Forest honored him with the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022.