Despite retiring from the world of basketball earlier than many people anticipated, Anthony Mason didn’t stay far away from successes for the number of years he spent on the court playing for several basketball teams as a power forward. While his stint in the NBA lasted, he was signed by six professional basketball teams and also won several awards and titles for his performance in the league.
Mason launched his professional football career in the year 1988 when he was selected as the 53rd pick in the third round of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. His deal with Blazers was however cut short, which led him to join the Istanbul, Turkey-based professional basketball team, Efes Pilsen in the same year. Anthony banded together with Pilsen till 1989 when he moved to the Brooklyn-based basketball team, the New Jersey Nets, where he had a brief stint and averaged 1.8 points.
The following year, being 1990, Mason left the Nets and joined the American professional basketball team, Denver Nuggets, playing only three games for the team. He was released by the team in 1991 and he went on to play for the New York Knicks from 1991 to 1996, where he flourished and formed a formidable frontcourt with Charles Smith, Charles Oakley, and Patrick Ewing. Mason was then traded alongside Brad Lohaus to the Charlotte Hornets in 1996 for Larry Johnson.
The basketball player bagged his best career record with the Hornets in his first season with the team, recording 4 triple-doubles, 11.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 16.2 points, as well as 43.1 in minutes played. Mason ended his career with the team in the year 2000 and was asked to join the Miami Heat by the team’s coach Pat Riley.
He averaged 9.6 rebounds and scored 16.1 points per game and subsequently represented the Heats in an All-Star team, where he made the playoffs with a 50 win season and later disappeared in the playoffs, averaging just 3 rebounds, 5.3 points, and taking a mere 13 shots in three games. He was eventually waived by Miami Heat during the offseason in 2001.
Anthony Mason ended his career with Milwaukee Bucks, which signed him for the 2001 – 2002 season. Despite several poor outings, the Bucks stuck with him until the end of the 2002 – 2003 season when they finally waived him. The player’s thirteen years in the world of basketball opened up opportunities for him to average 8.3 rebounds and 10.8 points and also earned him the 1995 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, a selection to the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, and a mention to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team and the 1996-1997 All-NBA Third Team.
Who Is Anthony Mason?
Anthony Mason, of blessed memory, was a professional basketball player who invested 13 years of his life playing for several basketball teams. After his birth on 14th December 1966, in Miami, Florida, he was named Anthony George Douglas Mason by his parents. He was raised by his mother, Mary Mason, as his father was not part of his life.
Mason finished his high school from Springfield Gardens, Queen, New York, and later moved to Tennessee State University for his college education. He spent four years at the university playing for the college basketball team. Anthony’s journey with Tennessee which began in 1984 ended in 1988, the same year he was drafted in the NBA. In addition to the NBA, the basketball player also plied his trade in Venezuela, the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), Turkey, and the United States Basketball League (USBL) throughout his 13-year career.
Net Worth
The power forward, who sported the No. 17, 34, 14, and 42 jerseys in the course of his NBA career, died a wealthy man. According to reports, he was able to amass a whopping $17 million from his career and other endeavors.
His Family, Wife
While it is not known if he has siblings or not, Mason had four children (three sons and one daughter) from four different women before his death. In his lifetime though, he only identified with two of his children, leading the public to believe that the basketball player only gave birth to two children but his eldest son, in an emotional statement released in March 2015, reportedly acknowledged that his father actually has four children, who came from different women.
Anthony Mason Jr. (born January 25, 1987, in Jacksonville, Florida) is the power forward’s eldest child born to him by a Memphis-born woman called Monica Bryant. A basketball player as well, he previously played for St John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team and is currently for Miami Heats as a small forward.
His younger step-brother is called Anthoine Mason (born May 24, 1992, in Queens, New York) is a basketball player who represents the Fujian Lightning as a guard in the Chinese National Basketball League. He came from Anthony’s relationship with a woman called Latifa Whitlock. The last two are Armon Mason and Aryana Mason, as reported by New York Post.
Death – What Caused It?
The former NBA player died on 28th February 2015, in Manhattan, New York, as a result of a fatal congestive heart failure. In the days leading to his death, Mason suffered a massive heart attack that drove him to a Manhattan-based hospital, where he eventually passed away surrounded by his children and loved ones.
Height – How Tall Is He?
When Anthony Mason was alive and active in the basketball league, he was 6 feet 7 inches tall (2.01 meters) while his weight was listed as 113 kilograms or 250 lb.
