Matthew Allen Geiger (born September 10, 1969) is an American former professional

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United ...

player who played at the center position.

Collegiate career

Geiger played for Countryside High School in

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populati ...

and was recruited to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. He played with Auburn before transferring to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...

for more playing time.

NBA career

His successful college career led Geiger to be selected by the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at F ...

in the second round (42nd pick overall) of the

1992 NBA Draft The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The draft is considered to be one of the deepest in NBA history. The top three picks ( Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were consid ...

. He played in the NBA for 10 seasons from 1992–2002 with 3 teams:

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and p ...

, and

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. In the summer of 2000, Matt Geiger's refusal to waive a $5 million trade kicker clause in his contract stopped a four-team deal between Philadelphia, the Hornets, the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at ...

and the L.A. Lakers that would have sent All-Star player

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson (; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iver ...

to the Pistons. He was suspended for 2 games during the 2000–01 season for a violation of the NBA/NBPA's steroid policy. Geiger signed a contract in 2001 with the

but knee injuries forced him to retire in 2002 after a ten-year career. For his career, he averaged 9.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

Personal life

Geiger currently resides in

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal ...

where he is a real estate investor. His estate, reported as the largest in the county, sold on January 3, 2011 for 8 million dollars. The estate was originally listed for 20 million dollars and was on the market for four years. ''

The Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher ma ...

'' used this home as the residence of

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes '' Carrie'' (1 ...

's character Mr. Saint. In January 1992, during Geiger's senior year at Georgia Tech, his

fraternal twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

Mark Geiger was diagnosed with

Hodgkin's disease Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...

at the age of 22. Because his brother lost his hair during

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...

, Matt Geiger shaved his head during his NBA career in support of his brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geiger, Matt 1969 births Living people American men's basketball players Auburn Tigers men's basketball players Basketball players from Florida Basketball players from Massachusetts Centers (basketball) Charlotte Hornets players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball players Miami Heat draft picks Miami Heat players Philadelphia 76ers players Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida Sportspeople from Salem, Massachusetts