Michael Sweetney, the Georgetown standout whose four-year NBA career took him from the New York Knicks to the Chicago Bulls, died on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey. He was 43.
His wife, India Sweetney, announced his death in a Facebook post on September 17. “With the heaviest hearts, we are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Michael,” she wrote. “To know Mike Sweetney was to [love] him. No one loved him more and he loved no one more than his family.”
“His children were the light of his life, and he lived every day to give them the best life possible,” she continued. “He’s been my best friend for 30 years and my husband for almost 20. I’m not sure what we or I will do without him.” She called him “the best son, brother, family member, friend, father and husband ANYONE could ask for.”
From Hoyas Star to Ninth Pick
New York called Sweetney’s name ninth overall in the 2003 NBA draft, pulling him from Georgetown after his junior season with the Hoyas in Washington, D.C. A power forward and center, he turned pro that year and played for New York from 2003 to 2005 before joining the Bulls, where he finished his NBA run in 2007.
Across 233 career games, including 73 starts, Sweetney averaged 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 15.5 minutes. Those numbers followed a far more productive college career: he averaged a double-double in each of his last two seasons at Georgetown, posting 19 points and 10 rebounds a night in 2001-02 before climbing to 22.8 points and 10.4 rebounds a game in 2002-03.
He still ranks among Georgetown’s career leaders — fifth in rebounds with 887, seventh in blocks with 180 and ninth in points with 1,750.
Tributes From the Knicks and Bulls
The Knicks, the Bulls and Georgetown each acknowledged Sweetney’s death with posts on social media, the two NBA clubs on September 17. The Knicks said they were saddened by the news, called him a person who would be missed by many and sent their thoughts to his family. The Bulls extended condolences to the family and friends of their former player.
Once his playing days ended, Sweetney joined the bench at Yeshiva University, a Division III program in New York, as an assistant. “The world lost a giant today,” Yeshiva head coach Elliot Steinmetz wrote in a post on X. Steinmetz said he had lost a close friend, that the basketball world had lost a beloved star and that the Jewish community had lost an ally, adding that Sweetney was family who turned up whenever he was needed, without ever being asked.
Speaking Openly About His Rookie Years
In a 2017 interview with HoopsHype, Sweetney spoke candidly about the depression he battled as a young NBA player. His father, who had attended every one of his Georgetown games, died early in his professional career, and Sweetney said he went from being a college star with his dad in the stands to grieving that loss while barely seeing the floor. His coach, he recalled, told him plainly that he would not play him.
He said he felt he had nowhere to turn while the media wrote about his struggles. “I just kept digging myself into a deeper hole of depression,” he said. Sweetney told HoopsHype he eventually recognized he had to climb out of it, a process that took time and leaned heavily on family and friends who had his back through the worst stretches.
That willingness to talk about his lowest moments is part of how a generation of basketball fans came to know him beyond the box score. The way Steinmetz described him after his death — as a friend who showed up — reflected that as well.
A Return to the Knicks Family
Sweetney had stayed connected to the franchise that drafted him. In January 2026, he was invited to an alumni night at a Knicks game, and he wrote afterward that he had enjoyed being around the stars he had admired as a kid and reconnecting with men he had played alongside and against.
A cause of death has not been shared. In her post, India Sweetney wrote: “We appreciate every call and text of love and support. We just ask that right now you give us all a little time before you start to reach out because it’s been pretty overwhelming. Thank you and God bless.”