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Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number 00-99

By Larry Hammonds

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant(L) and Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan(R) talk during a free-throw attempt during the fourth quarter 17 December at the United Center in Chicago. Bryant, who is 19 and bypassed college basketball to play in the NBA, scored a team-high 33 points off the bench, and Jordan scored a team-high 36 points. The Bulls defeated the Lakers 104-83. AFP PHOTO VINCENT LAFORET (Photo by VINCENT LAFORET / AFP) (Photo credit should read VINCENT LAFORET/AFP/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant(L) and Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan(R) talk during a free-throw attempt during the fourth quarter 17 December at the United Center in Chicago. Bryant, who is 19 and bypassed college basketball to play in the NBA, scored a team-high 33 points off the bench, and Jordan scored a team-high 36 points. The Bulls defeated the Lakers 104-83. AFP PHOTO VINCENT LAFORET (Photo by VINCENT LAFORET / AFP) (Photo credit should read VINCENT LAFORET/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number: 65, George Ratkovicz

Goerge Ratkovicsz won a championship in 1947 as a member of the Chicago American Gears while playing in the NBL before the NBL-BAA merger. After the eventual merger and the NBA was formed in 1949, Ratkovicz joined the Syracuse Nationals for the 1949–50 season and played in Syracuse for three seasons before the franchise traded him to the Baltimore Bullets for Bill Calhoun.

Playing alongside Dolph Schayes and Al Cervi ( both future Hall of Famers), Ratkovicz averaged 8.5 points per game (rebounds were not tracked until the following season) in his first season with the team. He also helped the Nationals make an appearance in the NBA Finals that season, but they lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in six games.

It was also in his first year with the Nationals that Ratkovicz elected to wear the number 65. Not only did he become the first and only player to wear the number 65 in 1949, but that season was also the only season he wore it. The following year he decided to change his number again, this time to number six, and from the 1950-51 season up until his retirement after the 1954-55 season, he wore four different jersey numbers for three different teams.

Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number: 63, Coty Clarke

Coty Clarke went undrafted in the X NBA Draft and subsequently signed a contract with Hapoel Galil Elyon to play professional basketball in the Israeli National Basketball League, Liga Leumit. After just one season playing in Israel in which he averaged 19 points and 9.4 rebounds, he would again try to make his way into the NBA.

Prior to the 2015-16 season, Clarke signed a contract with the Boston Celtics but was waived before the season opener and joined their D-League (now known as the G-League) affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. Later that season, he would sign multiple 10-day contracts with the Boston Celtics. On March 15, 2016, he made his NBA debut with the Celtics and became the first and only player in NBA history to wear the number 63.

Clarke’s dream to play in the NBA was short-lived. He played just six minutes across two games with the Celtics, scoring a total of six points while connecting on his only two 3-point attempts and shot 50 percent overall. He finished the season with the Red Claws after his second 10-day contract expired, and that was the last time Clarke or the number 63 were seen in the NBA.