Former NBA big man Michael Sweetney, who had multiple brief stints with the Boston Celtics, has died at 43.
Sweetney passed away Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey.
No official cause of death has been released, though one report cited complications from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife and three children.
Celtics fans of a certain vintage may remember the name more than the résumé. Sweetney never appeared in a regular-season game for Boston.
He joined the Celtics’ 2009 summer league team, then earned an invitation to training camp that October as the defending champions tried to add size.
Doc Rivers praised his talent even as the 6-foot-8, listed-275-pound forward struggled with weight. Boston waived him on Oct. 22 after five preseason games. He returned for another camp look in December 2011 during the lockout-shortened season and was cut again on Dec. 22.
Those were footnotes on a career defined by Georgetown and the lottery. Sweetney averaged 18.2 points and 9.2 rebounds over three seasons with the Hoyas and put up 22.8 points and 10.4 rebounds as a junior in 2002-03, earning All-America honors.
The New York Knicks took him ninth overall in 2003.
He spent two seasons in New York and two with the Chicago Bulls, averaging 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 233 NBA games. Weight and mental-health struggles limited him after that; he later spoke publicly about depression and a suicide attempt during his Knicks years.
He continued playing overseas and in the BIG3 before turning to coaching at Yeshiva University, Ramaz School, and, shortly before his death, Golda Och Academy.
From a Celtics perspective the connection is thin but real: a big man the organization liked enough to bring in twice, during the late Big Three era and again as the roster turned over.
Boston was looking for cheap, physical frontcourt help. Sweetney had the college pedigree and the frame; the minutes and consistency never materialized in green.
The Knicks, Bulls, Georgetown, and the NBA issued statements calling him an “incredible person” with a big heart.
His wife, India, described him as a devoted husband and father whose children “were the light of his life.”
