Joe Wolf, who played for North Carolina and 7 NBA teams, dies at 59

Joe Wolf, a former North Carolina captain for Dean Smith and went on to play for seven teams in an 11-year NBA career before becoming a coach, died unexpectedly Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks announced.

Wolf, an assistant coach for the Wisconsin Herd — the Bucks' G League affiliate — was 59.

“Throughout his life, Joe touched many lives and was a highly respected, adored and dedicated coach and player across the NBA,” the Bucks said in a release announcing Wolf's death. “His well-regarded talent was instrumental for the Bucks and Herd over eight years with the organization, including as a player and coach.”

Wolf was a high school All-American in 1983 before joining the Tar Heels to play alongside the likes of Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins. Wolf was a co-captain for the Tar Heels as a senior in 1986-87, sharing that role with Kenny Smith.

North Carolina went 115-22 in Wolf's four seasons, making the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite Eight twice in that span. Wolf — a 6-foot-11 center and forward — quickly moved into coaching once his NBA career was done, using skills he said Smith began instilling in him from the start of his college experience.

“I like to think I started getting trained the minute I stepped on campus,” Wolf told the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record in 2018. “Coach Smith was all about building the proper habits. That benefits me today.”

He was an All-ACC pick in 1987 and left North Carolina with 1,231 points. The Los Angeles Clippers used the No. 13 pick in the 1987 draft on Wolf, who spent his first three NBA seasons there before later playing for Denver, Charlotte, Orlando, Portland, Boston and Milwaukee — a return to his home state of Wisconsin, where he was a high school legend.

Wolf led Kohler High School to three Wisconsin state championships, and in 2005 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel named him the state's greatest high school basketball player ever, the Bucks said.

He coached at the college level as an assistant at William & Mary and UNC Wilmington, was a head coach in what is now called the G League with Idaho, Colorado and Greensboro, had been an NBA assistant for Milwaukee and Brooklyn and was hired in 2023 as a G League assistant for the Herd.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

FILE - Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Joe Wolf talks with a referee during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016 in Auburn Hills, Mich. Joe Wolf, a former North Carolina captain who went on to play for seven teams in an 11-year NBA career and then became a coach, died unexpectedly on Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks announced. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

North Carolina's Joe Wolf (24) is stopped by Villanova players Gary McLain (22) and Harold Jensen (32) during early action at NCAA Southeast Regional finals at Birmingham, Ala., March 24, 1985. (AP Photo/File)

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco will go to trial on charges that he sexually abused a minor, a judge in the Dominican Republic said on Thursday.

After an investigation that lasted over a year, judge Pascual Valenzuela of the northern province of Puerto Plata ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecutors was worthy of the case moving to trial.

No date has been set for the trial, which will be handled by a panel of judges. In the Dominican Republic, there are no jury trials.

Franco has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Franco six months after a judge ordered that he be investigated in connection with alleged sexual and psychological abuse of the girl.

Franco, who has refused to speak to the media, attended the hearing that lasted five hours and said after that “everything is in God's hands.”

Teodosio Jáquez, Franco’s lawyer, said that the outcome was expected while prosecutors declared that the judge’s decision validates the evidence presented.

“It’s a solid accusation and the court understood it. The evidence linked the defendants to what’s described in the accusation,” said the prosecutor, Claudio Cordero.

Franco arrived at the hearing around 9 a.m. with his head down. He kept quiet and listened to his lawyers and the prosecutors during his time in court.

Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge in July and were viewed by The Associated Press alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos or $17,000 to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the abuse.

The mother of the minor has been charged with money laundering and is under house arrest.

Prosecutors say that the minor’s mother went from being a bank employee to leading an ostentatious life and acquiring assets that she cannot justify using the funds she received from Franco.

During raids on the house of the minor’s mother, prosecutors say they found $68,500 and $35,000 that they allege was delivered by Franco.

If convicted, Franco could face up to 20 years in prison.

Franco, who turned 23 on March 1, was in the midst of his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021.

Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list last month, cutting off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco watches from the dugout during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)