{"id":847823,"date":"2025-05-12T21:12:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T02:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/oliver-miller-former-nba-center-dead-at-54\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T21:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T02:12:42","slug":"oliver-miller-former-nba-center-dead-at-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/oliver-miller-former-nba-center-dead-at-54\/","title":{"rendered":"Oliver Miller, former NBA center, dead at 54"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former NBA center Oliver Miller died at the age of 54, the Phoenix Suns announced on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eddie Johnson, a former NBAer and the longtime TV analyst for the Suns, initially revealed the news via social media post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so sad to report we have lost another @NBA Fraternity member!\u00a0 Nine year veteran Oliver Miller has passed away at age 54! Going to miss you Big O,\u201d Johnson wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Oliver Miller of the Phoenix Suns looks on against the Sacramento Kings circa 1993 NBAE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a post of his own back <\/a>in late February, Miller had announced that he was battling cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miller was affectionately referred to as \u201cThe Big O\u201d and played nine years in the NBA with Phoenix, Toronto, Detroit, Minnesota, Dallas and Sacramento.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He spent four years at the University of Arkansas playing for Naismith Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson, where he helped lead the Razorbacks to three straight SEC regular season and tournament titles. He and Arkansas reached the Final Four in 1990, where it lost to Duke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Oliver<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Oliver Miller died at the age of 54. X\/@Omiller03<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a statement<\/a>, the school\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team said it was \u201csaddened\u201d by Miller\u2019s passing and that he was \u201ca true embodiment of the Razorback spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller was taken 22nd overall in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Suns and was a member of the squad that reached the NBA Finals during the 1992-93 season, only to run into Michael Jordan and the Bulls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Oliver Miller of the Minnesota Timberwolves is defended by Karl Malone of the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals during the 2004 NBA Playoffs at Target Center Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cRest in Peace, Big O,\u201d the Suns wrote in tribute<\/a> in a post on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He had been an inaugural member of the Raptors franchise in 1995.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Toronto Raptors are saddened to learn of the passing of Oliver Miller, who spent three seasons with our organization,\u201d they wrote in a statement.<\/a> \u201cHe holds a special place in our history as a member of our inaugural team in 1995, and we are so grateful for all his contributions. We send our deepest condolences to the Miller family.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Oliver<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Oliver Miller #3 of the Minnesota Timberwolves goes for the rebound against Elton Brand #42 of the Los Angeles Clippers during the game at Target Center on February 10, 2004. NBAE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miller averaged 7.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game during his NBA career and played for overseas and semipro teams following the 1999-2000 NBA season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He returned to the NBA for one final season in 2003-04.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Joan Pingree
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former NBA center Oliver Miller died at the age of 54, the Phoenix Suns announced on Wednesday.\u00a0 Eddie Johnson, a former NBAer and the longtime TV analyst for the Suns, initially revealed the news via social media post.\u00a0 \u201cI am so sad to report we have lost another @NBA Fraternity member!\u00a0 Nine year veteran Oliver<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":847824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[988,2236],"tags":[9377,15759],"class_list":["post-847823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miller","category-oliver","tag-miller","tag-oliver"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}