Bill Walton, Hall of Fame player who became a star broadcaster, dies of cancer at 71

Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins before becoming a Hall of Fame center for his NBA career and one of the biggest stars of basketball broadcasting, has died. The league announced that Walton died Monday after a prolonged fight with cancer. He was 71. Walton was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, a two-time champion and a member of both the NBA’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams. That followed a college career in which he was a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year.