Nick Gilbert, the son of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, died Saturday after a lifelong battle with neurofibromatosis. He was 26 years old.
Nick was the eldest of Dan Gilbert’s five children, and he became a good luck charm for the Cavaliers organization. He represented Cleveland during the 2011 draft lottery at age 14, when the team won the No. 1 pick that it would later use on Kyrie Irving. From then on, he would represent the Cavaliers several more times at the lottery. Cleveland won the No. 1 pick again in 2013.
Gilbert suffered from neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder in the nervous system with no known cure, for his entire life. The disease causes tumors to grow on nerve pathways throughout the body.
