The world didn't just lose its greatest sports champion and a civil rights leader on Sunday, when Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell died at age 88. We lost a touchstone to our history that can never be replaced.
The NBA is different from most institutions in how it embraces the greats who built it. Only Pete Maravich had passed when the league honored its 50th Anniversary Team in 1997, and 47 attended the ceremony. Forty-five of the 61 living members were present for the 75th Anniversary Team celebration in February, two years into a global pandemic.