He spent 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Golden State Warriors.

He was also a capable outside shooter, a fine passer who generally ranked among the league's assist leaders, and a durable instigator of the fast break.

He was traded with Roy Hinson to the Atlanta Hawks prior to the 1992–93 season for Rumeal Robinson, where he flourished under newly signed coach Lenny Wilkens.

[2][3][4] In Tom Robbins's 1994 novel Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, character Larry Diamond uses the name "Mookie Blaylock" as a pseudonym for hotel stays.

[10] Although initially surviving the crash, a passenger in the other vehicle, Monica Murphy, a mother of five, died as a result of injuries from the collision.

[12] Blaylock had an outstanding warrant in Spalding County, Georgia on charges of DUI and drug-related offenses at the time, but "investigators did not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash.