Greatest unsung hero in every NBA team’s history

Milwaukee Bucks: Junior Bridgeman

If you Google Junior Bridgeman, the search engine will probably inundate you with articles and videos discussing how he parlayed his NBA earnings into becoming one of the richest men to have ever played in the NBA. You would probably also learn about him being one of the players the Los Angeles Lakers traded away to acquire Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Interesting anecdotes aside, Bridgeman had a solid NBA career playing alongside Terry Cummings and Sidney Moncrief with the Milwaukee Bucks. His numbers weren’t spectacular, as he averaged 13.9 points per game with a 15.9 PER and 45.0 WS in 10 seasons with the Bucks. However, he did provide solid minutes as a sixth man for Milwaukee.

Bridgeman put together his best season as a pro during the 1980-81 season, when he averaged 16.8 points with a 53.4 true shooting percentage and a career-best .146 WS/48. He had a few more productive seasons before retiring in 1987 to become a restaurant chain mogul.

Basketball Reference’s similarity score rates Bridgeman with guys like Kenyon Martin and Caron Butler. Those guys were decent role players that could ascend to an All-Star level in the right situation. With Moncrief and Cummings on the roster, the Bucks never needed to lean on Bridgeman in that way.

He became an unsung hero in a different way. Bridgeman used his status as NBA player to learn about the business world and build a life for himself after his career ended. He ultimately became more successful than I’m sure he envisioned, which makes what he’s done in his post-NBA days even more fascinating than what he did as a player.