Paul Westphal, the Hall of Fame guard who played at the peak of his career with the Phoenix Suns (and earlier won a championship with the Boston Celtics) has been diagnosed with brain cancer.
Longtime sportswriter Mike Lupica made the announcement.
— Mike Lupica (@MikeLupica) August 9, 2020
Glioblastoma is a particularly aggressive and difficult form of cancer to treat.
Westphal was born and raised in the South Bay area of greater Los Angeles and went on to play his college ball at USC. He was the No. 10 pick of the Boston Celtics in the 1972 NBA Draft and went on to play three seasons with the Celtics, winning a title with them in 1974.
After that he went on to Phoenix, where he was an All-Star player and was named to the All-NBA team four times. Westphal also played for the Knicks and Sonics during his career. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame last September.
After playing he became a coach, spending at least part of seven seasons as the Suns head coach, plus he coached the Kings for three seasons.
One of the best-liked people in NBA circles, there are a lot of people in Westphal’s corner today and going forward.