Jerome Kersey, a 17-year NBA veteran who played in two NBA Finals with the Portland Trail Blazers, died Wednesday, two people close to him told CBSSports.com. He was 52.
Kersey played 11 seasons for the Trail Blazers before spending time with the Warriors, Lakers, SuperSonics, Spurs and Bucks. He was a member of San Antonio's 1999 NBA championship team.
No details surrounding Kersey's death were immediately available.
Kersey, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward who averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 1,153 regular-season games, was a starter on the Portland teams that advanced twice to the Finals in the 1990s under coach Rick Adelman. The Blazers lost to the Pistons in 1990 and to the Bulls in 1992.
Kersey, a second-round pick for Portland in 1984 out of Longwood University in Virginia, had been living in the Portland area and working for the Blazers as a team ambassador.
