Benefit planned for former NBA player injured in ATV wreck

Durham, N.C. — Friends in Durham are rallying around former pro-basketball player Rodney Rogers.

Rogers, who lives in the Triangle, suffered serious injuries in an all-terrain vehicle crash Friday night in Vance County.

A horseback riding group, "Black Trail Riders," said Sunday they are planning a benefit ride in a few weeks for Rogers.

Friends say his condition is uncertain and that he may have suffered some paralysis.

Rogers played basketball for Hillside High School in Durham and Wake Forest University. In 1993, he left Wake Forest in his junior season for the NBA and was selected ninth in the draft by the Denver Nuggets.

Rogers went on to play for the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets and the Philadelphia 76ers, before retiring in 2005. In career games, he averaged 9.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 22.7 minutes a game.

Rogers won the 1999-2000 NBA Sixth Man Award, honoring the league's premier reserve player. That season, he ranked fourth in 3-pointer percentage and 16th in 3-pointers made.