Maurice Lucas and Bill Walton Reunite in Heaven: Remembering Legendary Trailblazers Duo Who Fought Identical Battle With Cancer

The Portland Trailblazers‘ one of the greatest ever has taken his final bow. The NBA announced today that Walton, aka Big Red Head, passed away at the age of 71 with his family by his side after cancer got the best of him. The 2X champion, who earned his first-ever and rather historic win with the franchise, joins fellow teammate, Maurice Lucas, who helped him with the glory. And the run isn’t the only shared experience between the two. 

2x NBA champion Walton fought a hard battle against prostate cancer. If we tune back to 2009, Maurice Lucas was in a similar situation as Walton. The 1997 NBA champion was diagnosed with bladder cancer, for which he underwent surgery in April 2009. Despite overcoming every hindrance, as he did inside the paint during his career, Lucas passed away at the age of 58 on October 31, 2010. 

Wilton, along with Lucas, brought fame to the Trailblazers basketball in the year 1977 when the franchise had not won more than 38 games in the league. But leave it to the two stars to find and assert hope. “Maurice took my hand… and he said, ‘We’re going to win the championship this year,'” Walton recalled a couple of years ago. 

The team indeed went on to finish third in the Western Conference, with a record of 49-33. They then defeated the Chicago Bulls, the Denver Nuggets, and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Eastern Conference before they faced the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals. 

Walton scored 28 points and 17 points in the first two games against the Sixers in the Finals, despite which the Trailblazers went 0-2. This is when Lucas came in clutch. He put on a crucial 27-point performance in game 3, which put the Blazers back in the series. Walton, on the other hand, had 18 rebounds and 9 assists, and the Blazers were 1-2. After this, Walton and Lucas won three straight games to win their first-ever NBA championship. 

“I never doubted anything he ever said again,” Walton admitted. The bond between Walton and Lucas is something etched of trust and respect. If you want to understand the depth of it, here is a mind-blowing story about their friendship. 

Did Bill Walton name his son after Maurice Lucas?

Remember Luke Walton, who played in the NBA for 10 seasons and also coached the Los Angeles Lakers from 2017-19? If you are wondering where the name “Luke“ came from, it was nothing but Walton’s tribute to his former teammate Lucas. 

Bill Walton shared, “Big Luke was so important in my life that I named our next-born son after him. On the day when Little Luke was born, Maurice brought over to the house an autographed action shot of himself in full rage and glory. In the photo, Big Luke was going for and after it all — like no one else ever could. Maurice signed the picture to our son that day. It said, ‘To Little Luke, to make it in this world you’ve got to be tough, Big Luke’.” 

Walton and Lucas brought some of the best of moments for the Portland Blazers. Walton even went on to call the latter the ‘the greatest blazer of all time,’ while he led the team to its peak. As the impactful move on, they leave behind a legacy to cherish.