James Earl Ray (basketball)

James Ray (b. 27 July 1957) is an American former professional basketball player. After playing college basketball at Jacksonville University, he was drafted fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1980 NBA Draft. He subsequently played three seasons for the team, appearing in 103 games and finishing with career averages of 3.4 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Moving to Europe, he went on to play professionally in Italy, Spain and Turkey.

Post-career

In 2001, Ray was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis.http://www.nba.com/news/rayoflight_070501.html Due to his failing health and financial challenges, the NBA's retired players association provided him supporthttp://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050207/spj_167008224.shtml. In 2008, Ray received a transplant, soon after receiving a diagnosis of having three months to live without one. The likelyhood of receiving a transplant had been rated poorly, due to his need, at 6'9, of receiving lungs from a person taller than 6'5.http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061508/spf_290969987.shtml

References

External Links

James Ray career statistics

Category: Living people Category: American basketball players