Former NBA Player Brandon Hunter Dead At 42 After Reportedly Collapsing At Hot Yoga

Kelby Vera
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Professional basketball player Brandon Hunter has died at the age of 42.

Hunter, who played with the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic in the mid-2000s, died Tuesday night in Florida after collapsing at a hot yoga class, according to a Facebook post by his former coach, Tim O’Shea.

A cause of death was not immediately made public.

Jeff Boals, Hunter’s former coach on the Ohio University men’s basketball team, was the first to share the news, taking to X, the social media platform formerly Twitter, on Tuesday night.

“Sad day for Bobcat Nation,” he posted. “Brandon Hunter, Gone way too soon. One of the best to ever put on the green and white. #RIP.”

The Orlando Magic’s owners, players, coaches and staff remembered the 6-foot-7 power forward in a post on the team’s X account.

Brandon Hunter smiles during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 16, 2005.
Brandon Hunter smiles during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 16, 2005.

Brandon Hunter smiles during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 16, 2005.

“We are terribly saddened to learn of the loss of our former teammate, Brandon Hunter,” they wrote. “We send our deepest condolences to the entire Hunter family.

After playing Division I basketball, Hunter was drafted by the Celtics in 2003. He played the 2004-2005 season with the Magic, racking up an average of 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game during his 67-game stint in the NBA.

Upon hanging up his jersey in the U.S., Hunter took his talents abroad, playing on teams in Greece, Italy, Israel, France and Uruguay before officially retiring in 2013.

When the athlete returned to the States, he invested in real estate and leveraged his sports knowledge into a coaching and sports management career.

Explaining his path to Cincinnati, Ohio, outlet WCPO-TV in 2017, Hunter said, “I told myself that once I was done playing, I was going to go to school for real estate and get my license no matter where I was.”

O’Shea, a former Ohio University coach, told NBC News that Hunter was a fine example of an athlete and a human being.

“For me, it was incredibly rewarding to see how he matured as a person,” he said on Wednesday. “He invested money wisely, he had real estate and some rental properties.

Hunter is survived by his wife, Mary, and their two children, Andrew and Tristan.

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