Former Clipper Sealy Dies in Minnesota Highway Crash

Malik Sealy, a guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, was fatally injured Saturday when his sport utility vehicle was hit head-on by a pickup truck traveling the wrong way on a divided highway.

Sealy, 30, died of head and chest injuries at about 4 a.m. local time in a crash north of a construction zone in St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb. Sealy, a former Clipper, was on his way home after celebrating the 24th birthday of teammate Kevin Garnett.

“Hearing this news saddens me deeply,” said Elgin Baylor, Clipper vice president of basketball operations. “Malik was a class individual and was very professional in everything he did.”

Sealy is the second NBA player to lose his life in an auto accident this season. Charlotte guard Bobby Phills died in a single-car crash Jan. 12.

The Lakers observed a moment of silence for Sealy before the start of Saturday’s Game 1 Western Conference finals matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center.

The driver of the pickup, Souksangouane Phengsene, 43, was traveling north in the southbound lane, according to the Minnesota highway patrol.

Phengsene was hospitalized in serious condition with head and chest injuries. Neither driver was wearing a seat belt, police said. An air bag deployed in the truck. Sealy’s vehicle didn’t have an air bag.

Portland guard Gary Grant, a former teammate of Sealy’s with the Clippers, struggled to talk about the loss of a friend.

“It’s so sad,” Grant said. “It’s just a sad moment . . . and to hear it before a game, and how close he was to me. It’s just messed up.

“He was a great person. He always wanted to help people and do things with people. Always gave everybody else their props. He was just a hell of a guy.”

Sealy, a swingman, had just finished his eighth NBA season and his second with the Timberwolves.

Besides his wife Lisa and son Malik Remington, he is survived by his parents, Sidney and Ann Sealy.