NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of The 1990s
By Phil Watson
50 greatest NBA players from the 1990s — 40. Danny Manning
Danny Manning bounced back from a devastating knee injury that cut short his rookie year in 1988-89 and became a two-time All-Star in the 1990s for the Los Angeles Clippers, even as his career left many wondering what could have been.
Manning was an All-Star in 1993 and 1994 for the Clippers before he was dealt in February 1994 to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Dominique Wilkins and a first-round pick in 1994.
With the Clips in parts of five seasons in the decade, he averaged 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, three assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks in 33.8 minutes per game, shooting .520/.175/.740.
Manning wound up being just a rental in Atlanta, playing in 26 games and averaging 15.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.8 steals and one block in 35.6 minutes per game on .476/1-for-3/.651 shooting.
He signed with the Phoenix Suns as an unrestricted free agent in September 1994 and spent the rest of the decade with the Suns, earning Sixth Man of the Year honors in 1997-98.
In five years in Phoenix, Manning averaged 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a steal in 26.9 minutes per game, shooting .516/.195/.716.
The first overall pick by the Clippers out of Kansas in the 1988 NBA Draft, Manning played four more seasons after the turn of the century, one each with the Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, retiring in September 2003.
He is currently the head coach at Wake Forest, where he was 13-19 in his first season in 2014-15 after two years at Tulsa, where he was 38-29.