Fansided

Reggie Lewis’ mom open to Kevin Durant wearing No. 35 with Celtics

By Brad Weiss

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 23: Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder plays against the Boston Celtics during the game on November 23, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 23: Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder plays against the Boston Celtics during the game on November 23, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) /
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Reggie Lewis died at only 27 as a star player for the Boston Celtics. They retired his number 35 jersey, but his mom would welcome Kevin Durant wearing it in his honor.

On July 27, 1993, Reggie Lewis died of sudden cardiac death on the basketball court during an off-season practice at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He had collapsed during the first game of the Boston Celtics’ first round playoff match-up with the Charlotte Hornets months earlier, and it would later be discovered that he suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a structural heart defect that is considered the most common cause of death in young athletes.

In his honor, the Boston Celtics retired his number 35, placing it in the rafters of the old Boston Garden. A former first round selection of the Celtics, Lewis was an NBA All-Star in 1992 and appeared to be headed toward stardom.

This off-season, the Boston Celtics will court Kevin Durant, who like Lewis, wears number 35. Lewis’ mother, Inez Ritch, told Comcast SportsNet Northeast that if the Celtics wanted to let Durant wear her late son’s number, she wouldn’t have a problem with it.

“I don’t think I would be upset about it, Ritch told Kevin O’Connor of Comcast SportsNet Northeast. “I think it would be a good thing because he is a very nice, humble young man. I don’t know a lot about him, but I know of some of the things he has achieved while wearing the No. 35.”

The Celtics are one of six teams Durant plans to meet with, the first being the Oklahoma City Thunder before the free agency period begins on Friday. The Celtics have the richest history in NBA history and an amazing player like Durant could bring them back to prominence.

Durant is 27-years old, the same age as Lewis when he passed away and has spent his entire nine-year career with the Thunder franchise. He averaged 28.2 points per game last season and led the Thunder to within one victory of the NBA Finals, losing to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals in seven games.

The Celtics are by no means the favorite to land KD, but the gesture by Lewis’ mom speaks to her class and love for the game her son loved so much.

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