NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of The 1990s
By Phil Watson
50 greatest NBA players from the 1990s — 41. Anthony Mason
The New Jersey Nets took a shot on big man Anthony Mason after he spent a year playing in Turkey, signing him in September 1989.
Mason didn’t do a lot for the Nets, appearing in just 21 games and averaging 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in 5.1 minutes a game while shooting .350/—/.600.
Waived by the Nets before the start of the 1990-91 season, Mason spent most of the season in the Continental Basketball Association, save for a 10-day contract with the Denver Nuggets in January 1991. He played in three games and had 10 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes, going 2-for-4 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the foul line.
His big break came when he signed with the New York Knicks in July 1991.
Mason became a part of New York’s rotation and was a starter in 1995-96, when he led the NBA in minutes played and minutes per game and placing fourth in field-goal shooting. The previous season, he had been named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.
He also helped the Knicks to the 1994 NBA Finals, averaging 8.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 29.3 minutes per game off the bench, shooting .468/—/.640 in the seven-game loss to the Houston Rockets.
In July 1996, the Knicks traded Mason to the Charlotte Hornets along with Brad Lohaus in exchange for Larry Johnson.
In five years with New York, Mason averaged 9.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 31.7 minutes per game, shooting .528/0-for-2/.681.
With the Hornets, he was an All-NBA selection and an All-Defensive pick in 1996-97, leading the NBA in minutes per game while finishing fifth in rebounds and third in rebounds per game.
He missed the entire strike-shortened 1998-99 season due to a ruptured biceps.
In two seasons with Charlotte in the decade, he averaged 14.4 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 40.9 minutes per game, shooting .517/1-for-7 /.699, while playing a hybrid “point forward” position.
A third-round pick of the Portland Trail Blazers out of Tennessee State in 1988, Mason played four more seasons in the early 21st century, one each with the Hornets and Miami Heat and two with the Milwaukee Bucks, and was an All-Star in 2001. He retired after his contract was bought out by the Bucks in October 2003.
Mason had a massive heart attack in February and died from congestive heart failure at the age of 48.