Former NBA player Sean Rooks, Fontana High School, dead at 46

By Bill Oram

[email protected] @BillOram on Twitter

Former Lakers and Clippers forward Sean Rooks died Tuesday, his mother confirmed in a statement released by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Rooks, 46, was most recently a player development assistant for the Sixers.

The cause of his death was not yet known.

“It is with deep sadness and overwhelming grief that we mou the sudden loss of my son, Sean,” Deborah Brown said in the statement. “Our family asks that our privacy be respected as we grieve during this incredibly difficult time.”

A 1988 graduate of Fontana High, Rooks spent four years playing for Coach Lute Olsen at the University of Arizona before a 12-year playing career in the NBA. He played for the Lakers from 1996-99 and the Clippers from 2000-03.

Rooks was selected 30th overall in the 1992 draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He played for seven teams, posting career averages of 6.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

His most productive seasons came in his first years in the NBA, averaging 12.5 points his first two seasons with the Mavs, and then 10.9 points in his third season after being traded to the Miesota Timberwolves.

Rooks signed a free agent contract with the Lakers in 1996, appearing in 146 games in three seasons, before being traded back to Dallas in a deal that brought veteran A.C. Green back to L.A. Less than a year later, the Mavericks traded Rooks back to Los Angeles, but this time to the Clippers.

He averaged 17 minutes in 213 games with the Clippers.

After playing overseas in 2005, Rooks tued to coaching, becoming an assistant coach in the D-League from 2007-12. In 2013 he was hired as a player development assistant by the Phoenix Suns, and a year later joined coach Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia.

Rooks’ son, Kameron, is a sophomore center at Cal.

Advertisement