From r/nba:

Eric Piatkowski played for the Clippers from 1994-2003. Six of his Clipper teammates have already passed away at a young age

Malik Sealy (1994-97) - Killed by a drunk driver in 2000
Bison Dele (1995-96) - Missing since 2002; presumed to be killed by his brother
Kevin Duckworth (1996-97) - Died of heart failure in 2008
Dwayne Schintzius (1996-97) - Died in 2012 of complications from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia
Lorenzen Wright (1996-99) - Murdered in 2010
Sean Rooks (2000-03) - Died today of a reported heart attack
Not to mention Rodney Rogers (1995-99) being paralyzed due to an dirt bike crash and Lamar Odom (1999-2003) with his recent struggles, that's like 1994 San Diego Chargers level of bizarre and sad.

1994 San Diego Chargers:

3 Heart Attacks (Shawn Lee, 44; Chris Mims, 38; Lewis Bush, 42)
1 Suicide (Junior Seau, 43)
1 Car Crash (David Griggs, 28)
1 Drug Overdose (Curtis Whitley, 39)
1 Plane Crash (Rodney Culver, 26)
1 Lightning Strike (Doug Miller, 28)

Wow. My interest is more how common heart problems seem to be. But wow - six players from the one team? There must be some superstition they weren't adhering to.

There was an article a while back about 7fters being more likely to suffer from heart problems.

I can't link right now, although it quoted guys like Larry Bird being quite concerned.

"Bison Dele (1995-96) - Missing since 2002; presumed to be killed by his brother"

Yeah, gotta watch out for the brothers of players......

I don't even know who Sean Rooks is, so nothing I say is directed at him personally. But here's a couple of general observation:

A lot of players in basketball, (and NFL, ect) are not necessarily superbly fit. They are often big, strong, and heavily muscled, and yes they know how to push themselves up and down the court, but they're not marathon runners.

Have you SEEN the shit Americans eat? A professional athlete burns a tonne of energy, so they can eat crap and still keep to their playing weight. Problem is that their cholesterol is through the roof, which is a huge contributing factor to heart problems.

These guys make a lot of money, and many like to party hard. No slur intended on Mr Rooks, or any other player, but certain recreational drugs are notoriously bad for your heart.

Even athletes that have strictly avoided steroids whilst competing, when they get older and start to lose tone, may look for assistance retaining their muscles. Unfortunately roids are your hearts enemy.

Many of these guys would have huge egos to match their performances. Subconsciously they possibly feel quite invincible, don't like to face up to slowing down with age, and so continue to push themselves too hard and fail to heed the warning signs.

Whilst regular sustained cardio can certainly improve your heart, it doesn't get any bigger.
The biggest problem with obesity is that all that extra fat requires blood, and your heart has to pump that extra. But guess what, building massive muscles also requires more blood pumping.

Contrary to popular misconception, strenuous exercise is not always good for you. People often suffer heart attacks during exercise because they push themselves too hard.
The rule of thumb to determine your MAXIMUM heart rate is to take your age from 220. However a SAFE exercise rate is generally considered to be around 50~70% of your maximum. So the guys screaming and pumping massive amounts of iron, may actually be putting themselves at risk.

Sadly DAZZ, you have some good points there, I say sadly because it is a sad state these guys can end up in after years of neglecting what their bodies actually need compared with what they are putting into them and doing to them.

Their arteries are more than likely giving up, probably due to a cumulative processed food & high fat intake and who knows what chemicals they may have been taking over their playing days?

Back from college for summer, my kid tells me how they think sugar donuts are a breakfast food over there, blows my mind the stories I hear.

We have our own health issues here too, I am aware of this, however the Western diet driven by the USA is something that has a lot to answer for IMHO...

agreed, I trip out over the crap they serve up for breakfast in the states like cinnamon rolls etc or they eat bacon, eggs, sausages with a huge stack of hotcakes dripping in syrup as a side.

He was a fairly healthy looking guy though. He was certainly not like Shaq or Charles Barkley, where it is surprising that they haven't had heart attacks.

Yeah but portion sizes and sugar/salt/fat content in the USA are completely different. Our equivalent of a Big Mac meal would be their Happy Meal and so on.

Commonly, for brekky I would have any of the following:

Banana
Strawberries
Low sodium baked beans
Sour dough or damper bread
Avocado
Cereal with oats, grain and fruit/nuts
Milk and coffee, plus maybe some orange or orange/mango juice

If I go the mixed grill I make sure there is plenty of cooked tomato...

Pancakes, maple syrup and bacon is nice occasionally but should not be the staple!

Oh, forgot eggs, poached eggs are awesome...