Wes Unseld, Powerful Hall of Fame N.B.A. Center, Dies at 74

His family confirmed the death in a statement posted on the Washington Wizards’ website, saying that he had received diagnoses of pneumonia and other illnesses. The statement did not say where he died.

At 6-foot-7, Unseld was undersized for a center. But at 245 pounds he was a wide-bodied powerhouse who, it was said, could block out the sun. He fixed his opponents with a glower, set bone-rattling picks and planted himself under the basket with steely determination to grab rebounds against much taller centers like Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Over 13 seasons with the Baltimore, Capital and Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), Unseld’s teams went to the N.B.A. finals four times and won the league’s title in 1978 over the Seattle SuperSonics. Unseld was named the series’ M.V.P.

He would later coach the team and serve as its general manager.

In a statement, Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, called Unseld “one of the most consequential players of his era,” adding, “Wes elevated the game by mastering the fundamentals.”

Unseld had a career average of 14.0 rebounds a game; in his rookie season, 1968-69, he finished second in the league off the boards, behind Chamberlain, averaging 18.2. He and Chamberlain are the only players in N.B.A. history to be named rookie of the year and M.V.P. in the same season. Unseld was named to five All-Star teams.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Willis Reed, the Hall of Fame Knick center who played against Unseld for nearly a decade, recalled their physical battles during both the regular season and the playoffs.

“You always wanted to make sure you got a good night’s sleep before you played against him,” Reed said. “He was most consciously a rebounder — he could shoot, but he didn’t emphasize that part of his game — and felt that if he did his job right, by getting the defensive rebound and making the quick outlet pass, they would score quickly.”