In shocking news, the No. 6 overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, Robert “Tractor” Traylor, was found dead in his apartment in Puerto Rico this morning at the age of 34. Confirmed by his current basketball club, Vaqueros de Bayamón, it is believed that Traylor died of a heart attack. Traylor had corrective heart surgery in November of 2006 because of an enlarged aortic valve.
A member of the famed 1995 McDonald’s All American Game coming out of Detroit, Traylor went on to a great career at the University of Michigan before being selected sixth overall by the Dallas Mavericks. But in one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history, he was traded on Draft Day to the Milwaukee Bucks for Pat Garrity and Dirk Nowitzki. During his seven-year NBA career, Traylor played 438 games for the Bucks, Cavs and Hornets, with career averages of 4.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Here’s a very candid interview with Traylor from just over a month ago in Puerto Rico:
What’s your favorite Tractor memory?
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