Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number: 26, Kyle Korver
Kyle Korver was drafted in the second round of the 2003 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets, and the Nets immediately sold his draft rights to the Philadelphia 76ers for $125,000. By his second season in the league, the sharpshooter from Creighton University led the NBA with 226 3-pointers made.
A career 42.9 percent shooter from behind the arc, Korver has led the league in three-point percentage four times and has shot less than 39 percent in a single season, only one time. In 2010 Korver broke Steve Kerr’s single-season three-point percentage record when he connected on 53.6 percent of his 3-point attempts, a record that still holds to this day.
Despite being regarded as one of the best spot-up shooters of all time, Korver lost all three 3-point contests that he participated in. At age 33, while playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Korver was selected to his first and only All-Star game. Selected by the coaches as a reserve.
Of all the players in league history to appear in the playoffs, Korver ranks fourth in most playoff games played without winning a single NBA Finals. His 2,450 career 3-pointers rank fourth all-time behind Ray Allen, Stephen Curry, and Reggie Miller.
Honorable Mention: Spencer Dinwiddie
Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number: 25, Gus Johnson
Gus Johnson was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets with the 10th overall pick in the 1963 NBA Draft. Johnson is credited with being one of the first high-flying forwards in the history of the game. He played for a losing team for most of his career, so he rarely got the notoriety and respect he deserved from the fans and media, but his peers respected and adored him.
His former teammate Earl Monroe once said, “Gus was ahead of his time, flying through the air for slam dunks, breaking backboards and throwing full-court passes behind his back. He was spectacular, but he also did the nitty-gritty jobs, defense, and rebounding.”
Monroe referenced the “nitty-gritty” mentality that led to Johnson being a two-time All-Defensive First-team and four-time All-NBA player. Despite being only 6’6″ tall, Johnson averaged a double-double for eight consecutive seasons from 1964-1971. The ’71 season was arguably the best season of his career, with averages of 18.9 points and a career-high 17.1 rebounds per game.
He suffered a multitude of injuries that kept him out of playoff games and ultimately cut his career short after 10 seasons. He spent the final 50 games of his career in the ABA, coming mostly off the bench for the Indiana Pacers. His final season culminated in his only championship victory, though it wasn’t in the NBA, Johnson finally got his ring.
In 1986, the Washington Bullets retired Johnson’s number 25 jersey on his 48th birthday, and in 2010 he was finally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention: Chet Walker