Puerto Rico basketball legend José ‘Piculín’ Ortiz dies at 62

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — José “Piculín” Ortiz, a center who played briefly in the NBA but was considered one of the greatest Puerto Rican players of all time, died on Tuesday. He was 62.

The Puerto Rico Basketball Federation confirmed that Ortiz died. He had colorectal cancer since late 2023 and died at the Ashford Hospital in San Juan with his wife, Sylvia Ríos, and daughter Neira Ortiz present.

“Puerto Rico loses more than an athlete. It loses a legend,” the basketball federation said in a statement. “Thank you for so much joy, for representing our flag with pride, and for taking the island’s name to the highest level.”

Ortiz played for two years at Oregon State where he was the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year in 1986-87, averaging 22.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. He was selected 15th in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.

The 6-foot-10 center chose to play in Spain with Zaragoza before joining the Jazz in 1988-89. He played with Utah for parts of two seasons.

Ortiz returned to Europe and had stints with Real Madrid and Barcelona, among others. He returned to Latin America to play in the Venezuelan league in 1997 and returned home a year later, retiring in 2006.

Ortiz played with Puerto Rico in four World Championships (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002) and in four Olympic Games (1988, 1992, 1996, 2004). He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019.

At the Athens Olympics in 2004, Ortiz helped Puerto Rico hand the United States its first defeat in an Olympic Games since they started playing with professional players.

Ortiz faced legal issues after his playing career. In 2011, he was arrested on drug possession charges after federal agents found 218 marijuana plants in a house he was renting. The judge sent him to a rehabilitation clinic but in November of that year he tested positive for cocaine and was sentenced to six months in jail.