Looking at sports history and reminiscing about legendary players from different eras is a fun pastime for most sports fans. These great players kindle fond memories. The attraction of the great ones to the fans may come in various avenues; their statistics, what they did in big moments, individual awards, or how they led their team to a title.
We connect to these players on so many levels, but a common thread is to remember them by jersey number. Babe Ruth’s number 3, Wayne Gretzky’s 99, Jordan’s 23, or a Walter Payton 34 jersey are all iconic and fun to remember.
SHN Project: Best Team By Jersey Number
Our Sports History Network team would like to solicit your help in putting a fun twist on your sports memories by kicking off an endeavor to field the best pro basketball teams by jersey number. That team should consist of a Point Guard (PG), Shooting Guard (SG), Center (C ), Small Forward (PF), and Strong Forward (SF).
If a player is listed as playing that position in their career, they become eligible to play it on our team. Additional criteria are that they had to play in the BAA, NBL, NBA, or ABA and wear the jersey number for at least a part of 5 different seasons. Our team of SHN experts will provide some information, personal preferences, and other tidbits about the players of each to help you make an informed decision in the poll we will provide. After the deadline is reached, we will post the results on JerseyDispatch.com.
It is time again to look at the following jersey number and come up with the best five to put on the floor that all wore the Number 4 for at least five seasons in the NBA, ABA, or BAA.
To help us, we recruited Pro Basketball experts to toss comments about some of these players. Boni Jose and Felix Alvarado of the hit podcast Full Court Press with Boni and Felix.
NBA Guards Candidates (Jersey #5)
Dick Van Arsdale was a Guard and Forward donning the number on the New York Knicks (1966-68) and the Phoenix Suns (1969-77) for 11 Pro Basketball seasons as he scored 15079 career points, helped out with 3057 assists, found the ball for 3807 rebounds, and blocked 44 opposing teams’ shots in his career.
Jalen Rose lined up as a Guard and Forward, wearing the number 5. Felix and Boni give us the word on him, “Jalen Rose played for 13 seasons (1994-95 to 2006-07) on six teams (Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns) and averaged 14.3 points, 3.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 923 regular season games. The Michigan native also won the Most Improved Player award during the 1999-2000 season.”
Will Barton dribbled the hardcourts as a Guard with this jersey identification number 5 for the Portland Trail Blazers (2013-15) and Denver Nuggets (2015-22) for ten seasons as he drained 6648 points, handed out 1546 assists, grabbed 2465 rebounds, and blocked 241 opponent’s shots for his career.
Jason Kidd played the position of Guard sporting that number 5. Boni and Felix say that “Jason Kidd, a.k.a. J-Kidd, played for 19 seasons (1994-95 to 2012-13) on four teams (Dallas Mavericks [1994 to 1997 and 2007 to 2012], Phoenix Suns, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks) and averaged 12.6 points, 8.7 assists, and 6.3 rebounds in 1391 regular season games. He’s a 10x All-Star, Rookie of the Year (1995), an NBA champion (2011), number 2 on the all-time assists list, and is currently the head coach for the Dallas Mavericks.”
Tom Van Arsdale played the Forward/Guard position with this jersey number for the Detroit Pistons (1966-68), Cincinnati Royals (1969-72), Kansas City-Omaha Kings (1973), Philadelphia 76ers (1973, 74, 75), and Atlanta Hawks (1975-76) for a total of 9 seasons as he registered 14232 points, passed for 2085 assists, hauled down 3942 rebounds, swatted away 16 shots averaged15.3 points each for his career.
Cuttino Mobley played the position of Guard wearing the number on the Houston Rockets (1999-2004), Orlando Magic (2005), and Los Angeles Clippers (2006-09) for nine seasons as he scored 11964 points, dished out 2015 assists, crashed the boards for 2902 rebounds, blocked 313 shots and averaged16 points per contest played for his career.
Paul Seymour was a Guard and Forward identified by the jersey number on the Syracuse Nationals (1952-60) for nine seasons. He scored 5836 points, dished out 2341 assists, and crashed the boards for 1694 in rebounds, and averaged 9.4 points every game for his career.
Doug West played the position of Guard/Forward wearing the number on the Minnesota Timberwolves (1990-98) for nine seasons as he scored 6477 points, dished out 1292 assists, crashed the boards for 1670 rebounds, smacked down 189 opponent’s shots, and averaged 9.6 points a game for his career.
John Paxson dribbled the hardcourts as a Guard with this jersey identification number on the Chicago Bulls (1986-94) for nine seasons as he drained 5560 points, handed out 2758 assists, grabbed 906 rebounds, and blocked 44 opponent’s shots for his career.
Guy Rodgers was a Guard identified by the jersey number on the Philadelphia Warriors (1960-62), San Francisco Warriors (1963-66), Chicago Bulls (1967, 68), Cincinnati Royals (1968), and Milwaukee Bucks (1969-70) for eight seasons as he scored 10415 points, dished out 6917 assists, crashed the boards for 3791 in career rebounds, and averaged 11.7 points every game for his career.
John Bagley played the position of Guard wearing the number on the Cleveland Cavaliers (1983-87), New Jersey Nets (88, 89), Boston Celtics (90, 92, 93), and Atlanta Hawks (1994) for eight seasons as he scored 5802 points, dished out 3980 assists, crashed the boards for 1729 rebounds, smacked down 54 opponent’s shots, and averaged 8.7 points a game for his career.
Josh Howard was a Forward and Guard donning the number on the Dallas Mavericks (2004-10), Washington Wizards (2010, 11), and Minnesota Timberwolves (2013) for 8 Pro Basketball seasons as he scored 7270 career points, helped out with 817 assists, found the ball for 2886 rebounds, and blocked 276 opposing teams’ shots for his career.
Mike Evans was a Guard donning the number on the Milwaukee Bucks (1981-82), Cleveland Cavaliers (1982), and Denver Nuggets (1983-88) for 7 Pro Basketball seasons as he scored 4531 career points, helped out with 1514 assists, found the ball for 808 rebounds, and blocked 51 opposing teams’ shots during his career.
J.R. Smith played the Guard and Forward position wearing the digits on the Denver Nuggets (2010-11) and Cleveland Cavaliers (2015-19) for six seasons as he registered 12148 points, passed for 2077 assists, hauled down 3073 rebounds, batted away 204 shots as he averaged12.4 points per game for his career.
J.J. Barea played the Guard position with this jersey number 5 for the Dallas Mavericks (2015-20) for six seasons as he registered 7415 points, passed for 3270 assists, hauled down 1748 rebounds, swatted away 24 shots, averaged 8.9 points each for his career.
Courtney Lee lined up as Guard wearing the number on the Houston Rockets (2011-12), Memphis Grizzlies (2014-16), and the New York Knicks (2017-19) for six years as he provided career 7765 points, created 1353 assists, fought for 2127 rebounds, blocked 213 shots, and averaged 9.6 points per game for his career.
Rodney Hood was a Guard/Forward identified by jersey number 5 on the Utah Jazz (2015-18), Portland Trail Blazers (2019-21), and Milwaukee Bucks (2022) for six seasons as he scored 4586 points, dished out 720 assists, crashed the boards for 1141 in career rebounds, blocked 75 opposing shots and averaged 10.4 points every game for his career.
Nicolas Batum was a Forward/Guard donning the number on the Charlotte Hornets (16, 17, 18, 19, 20) for 5 Pro Basketball seasons as he scored 9795 career points, helped out with 3137 assists, found the ball for 4531 rebounds, and blocked 549 opposing teams’ shots during his career.
Darrell Walker dribbled the hardcourts as a Guard with this jersey identification number 5 for the Washington Bullets (1988-91) and Detroit Pistons (1992-93) for five seasons as he drained 6389 points, handed out 3276 assists, grabbed 3134 rebounds, and blocked 225 opponent’s shots in his career.
De’Aaron Fox dribbled the hardcourts as a Guard with this jersey identification number 5 the Sacramento Kings (2018-22) for five seasons as he drained 5438 points, handed out 1837 assists, grabbed 1022 rebounds, and blocked 131 opponent’s shots.
Dejounte Murray played the position of Guard wearing the number 5 on the San Antonio Spurs (2017-22) for five seasons as he scored 3108 points, dished out 1185 assists, crashed the boards for 1616 rebounds, smacked down 74 opponent’s shots and averaged 13.6 points a game for his career.
Dion Glover played the Guard position with this jersey number for the Atlanta Hawks (2000-04) for five seasons as he registered 2407 points, passed for 455 assists, hauled down 897 rebounds, and swatted away 65 shots for his career.
George Dempsey played the position of Guard wearing the number on the Philadelphia Warriors (1955-59) for five seasons as he scored 1574 points, dished out 711 assists, and crashed the boards for 1125 rebounds for his career.
Willie Jones was a Guard donning the number 5 on the Detroit Pistons (61, 62, 63, 64, 65) for 5 Pro Basketball seasons as he scored 2016 career points, helped out with 545 assists, and found the ball for 767 career rebounds.
Special thanks to the Basketball-Reference.com website for the stats!