Moses Malone, a three-time NBA MVP and one of basketball's most ferocious rebounders, died Sunday, the Philadelphia 76ers said. He was 60.

The 76ers issued a statement that said Malone had died, but did not immediately provide a cause of death.

Malone was part of the 76ers' 1983 NBA championship team, and the club said he will "forever be remembered as a genuine icon and pillar of the most storied era in the history of Philadelphia 76ers basketball."

A 6-foot-10 center who made the leap right from high school to the pros, Malone is the NBA's career leader in offensive rebounds and led the league in rebounds per game for five straight seasons from 1980-85.

Malone was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and attended the induction ceremonies for the year's class in Springfield, Massachusetts this weekend.