{"id":699865,"date":"2026-04-05T16:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699865\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:43:05","slug":"former-nba-forward-gerald-paddio-60-dies-in-car-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699865\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA Forward Gerald Paddio, 60, Dies in Car Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerald Paddio, a star forward at UNLV who played for five different teams in three NBA<\/a> seasons, died April 4. He was 60. <\/p>\n

Paddio was found dead at the scene of a single-vehicle accident on the side of a two-lane road near Rayne, Louisiana, by Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson, according to multiple<\/a> reports<\/a>. Newsweek Sports has reached out to the Sheriff’s office for confirmation.<\/p>\n

More news: Former Red Sox, Cardinals Pitcher Dies<\/a><\/p>\n

Paddio saw time with the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> (1990-91), Seattle SuperSonics (1992-93), Indiana Pacers<\/a> (1993-94), New York Knicks<\/a> (1993-94) and Washington Bullets (1993-94).<\/p>\n

\"Gerald<\/p>\n

Paddio averaged 5.5 points in 12.6 minutes per game in 129 NBA games. He also played nine playoff games with the Sonics in 1993, averaging 3.3 minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n

A small forward, Paddio played for Kilgore College and Seminole State before transferring to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. At UNLV, Paddio helped head coach Jerry Tarkanian’s team reach the Final Four in 1987. <\/p>\n

More news: Former Braves Prospect, 2-Sport Star, Dies at 49 After Cancer Battle<\/a><\/p>\n

Paddio averaged 13.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 39 games (37 starts) for the 37-2 Runnin’ Rebels. A gifted shooter, Paddio took advantage of his 6-foot-7 frame to score over smaller defenders in college.<\/p>\n

In an Elite Eight game between Iowa and UNLV in March 1987, Paddio made four second-half three-pointers as part of a 24-2 scoring run that erased a 16-point halftime, lifting the Rebels to an 84-81 victory.<\/p>\n

Paddio was selected by the\u00a0Boston Celtics<\/a>\u00a0in the third round (74th overall) of the\u00a01988 NBA draft<\/a>. He played one season in the CBA and another in Europe before finally getting his first chance in the NBA with the Cavs in 1990.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you couldn’t play defense and play hard, you could not play for Coach (Tarkanian),” Paddio said in a 2010 interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/a>. “I came out of college and they said I couldn’t make it in the NBA. You can’t tell me I’m not going to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More news: Six-Time NFL Pro Bowler Dies Following \u2018Serious Health Issues\u2019 at 65<\/a><\/p>\n

As a pro, Paddio also played two seasons in Spain, another in Italy, one in France, and competed for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1995 FIBA Korac Cup<\/a>. He also played overseas in Argentina, Japan, Lebanon and Mexico.<\/a><\/p>\n

Paddio was a native of Lafayette, Louisiana.<\/p>\n

For more NBA news, visit Newsweek Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerald Paddio, a star forward at UNLV who played for five different teams in three NBA seasons, died…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,193,126,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,2547,23962,468],"class_list":{"0":"post-699865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-knicks","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-knicks","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkknicks","17":"tag-seattle-supersonics","18":"tag-unlv","19":"tag-washington-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116353107531960670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}