Police: Former NBA All-Star Mookie Blaylock critically injured in car accident

Former NBA star Mookie Blaylock (left) was involved in a serious car accident. (Rocky Widner/Getty Images) Former NBA All-Star Mookie Blaylock is in critical

Former NBA star Mookie Blaylock (left) was involved in a serious car accident. (Rocky Widner/Getty Images)

Former NBA All-Star Mookie Blaylock is in critical condition after a traffic accident, according to police in Jonesboro, GA.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Blaylock was one of three people injured during a head-on collision on Friday afternoon.

Blaylock, 46, was driving a Cadillac Escalade northbound on Tara Boulevard when for unknown reasons, he crossed over the median and into a southbound lane around 1 p.m., Jonesboro police Chief Franklin Allen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Blaylock’s vehicle struck another vehicle head-on, injuring two people, whose names were not released, and himself, Franklin said.

All three were transported to Atlanta Medical Center, where Blaylock was flown and was on life support and unresponsive, Franklin said. A female passenger in the second vehicle was bleeding internally, he said.

WSBTV.com reported additional details.

Jonesboro police said Blaylock was traveling northbound on Tara Boulevard and then went through the median and crashed head-on into a van carrying a husband and wife. The couple and Blaylock were taken to Atlanta Medical Center in critical condition.

Officers said the van was so mangled, it was difficult for emergency responders to get one of the injured passengers out. She was airlifted to the hospital. Another driver on the road said she barely missed the SUV.

"He crossed over the median directly in front of me. I swerved in a split second and he hit them on the side of me, and he flipped over in the ditch,” Nicoby Williams said. “He hit them because I swerved out of the way."

Jonesboro is located roughly 20 miles south of Atlanta, where Blaylock spent seven seasons as a member of the Hawks.

Blaylock, 46, was selected by the Nets with the No. 12 pick in the 1989 draft after earning All-American honors at Oklahoma. He put together a 13-year NBA career with the Nets, Hawks and Warriors, and he holds career averages of 13.5 points, 6.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.

The 6-foot point guard twice led the league in steals per game and was selected to the All-Defensive first or second team for six straight years from 1994 to 1999. He was selected to the 1994 All-Star Game and averaged 13.8 points, a career-high 9.7 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 steals for the Hawks that season.

The rock band Pearl Jam was originally named "Mookie Blaylock" and their album "Ten" was a tribute to his jersey number.

"Sending good thoughts to Mookie," the band wrote on its @pearljamofficial Instagram account, attaching this image of Blaylock in a Nets jersey.

Pearl Jam posted a Mookie Blaylock tribute on Friday. (@pearljamofficial on Instagram)