Robert Traylor, ex-NBA lottery pick, dies at 34

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Former NBA player and University of Michigan basketball star Robert "Tractor" Traylor has died in Puerto Rico. He was 34.

The Bayamon Cowboys team said in a statement Wednesday that Traylor apparently died from a heart attack at his apartment. The team said he had been missing for days.

The Cowboys said he had been sidelined by an injury lately but had remained in the U.S. territory to complete his rehabilitation.

ESPNDeportes.com reported that Traylor "had been missing for three days before friends went to visit him and found his body" and said that an official cause of death "has yet to be determined."

Cleveland.com reported that Traylor underwent "corrective heart surgery" in 2006 because of an "enlarged aortic valve."

Traylor was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks as the sixth pick overall in 1998 but played for the Milwaukee Bucks his first two seasons. He spent seven years in the NBA and also played for Cleveland, Charlotte and New Orleans. He earned his nickname because of his size, measuring 6-foot-8 and weighing nearly 300 pounds (136 kilograms). Doctors had operated on his aorta in 2005.