Boston Celtics Great Jo Jo White Dies at 71

Basketball Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, a two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an Olympic gold medalist, has died.

Basketball Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, a two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an Olympic gold medalist, has died. He was 71.

The Celtics announced his death Tuesday night. No cause was provided.

The team says it is ''terribly saddened'' by White's passing, calling him a ''champion and a gentleman; supremely talented and brilliant on the court, and endlessly gracious off of it.''

We are terribly saddened by the passing of the great Jo Jo White. He was a champion and a gentleman; supremely talented and brilliant on the court, and endlessly gracious off of it.

Full statement: https://t.co/sYgSvZJu0A pic.twitter.com/1Eu8G2Qr8a

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 17, 2018

White played 10 seasons for Boston, which drafted him ninth overall from Kansas in 1969. He averaged 17.2 points per game over 13 years, also playing for Golden State and the Kansas City Kings before retiring in 1981.

The Celtics retired White's No. 10 the following year, and he still was working with the club as a director of special projects at the time of his death.